Live Earth concerts to sound alarm on climate

[cal04]

· Music events round world aim for 2bn audience
· Al Gore is moving spirit behind global effort
René Lavanchy and Duncan Campbell


First there was Live Aid, which opened the world's eyes to the scandal of famine in Africa through simultaneous concerts around the globe. A couple of years ago there was its successor, Live 8. This summer there will be Live Earth, which hopes to reach two billion people and draw attention to what campaigners believe is an equally urgent issue: climate change.

Dozens of the world's best-known musicians, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg to Snow Patrol and Keane, will appear in a series of concerts from London to Shanghai and Sydney to Johannesburg on July 7 to highlight the threat of global warming. There are even plans for a concert in Antarctica.

The man behind this year's event is not a long-haired Irishman with attitude but the former US vice president Al Gore, who has emerged as perhaps the foremost international spokesperson on climate change thanks to his Oscar-nominated documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

Mr Gore announced the plans, flanked by actor Cameron Diaz and rapper Pharrell Williams, at a press conference in southern California on Thursday. Organisers are hoping that audiences will top even those for the original Live Aid and its 2005 successor, Live 8.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2015158,00.html

[greenman3610]

1. my hope is this doesn't trivialize the issue

if it becomes a "flavor of the month" for
the rock and roll crowd...

[SharonRB]

2. Lots more links in the Al Gore group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=260

Come on down!

[cal04]

3. thanks for the link SharonRB

:hi: