I switched the TV on to catch a live concert being broadcast from Wembley stadium. It was the Live Earth concert. Knowing nothing about Live Earth I soon learnt it was an event helping promote a more greener way to live. Then it dawned on me, it was that thing Radio 1 have been banging on about for a while. We were all fortunate enough to see major rock, pop and whoever else they could find acts on stage, doing what they do best in an attempt to get us all to live a more energy efficient lives.

Keh?!?!

I watched about an hours worth, I saw the Foo Fighters (who incidentally were really good) play their most well known and popular tracks. Then the coverage switched to America. Ah, it’s a global thing. This is where it started to dawn on me what an utter pile of hot steaming poo this entire event really was. I happened to catch an R&B (or may have possibly been hip-hop) act called Akon. He strutted about the stage wearing a large medallion of some sort singing about doing a whole host of things to ladies. He was with his sidekick, a man with a mohican wearing a tartan skirt who’s role, as far as I could see, was to hoot and holla and certain times during the songs. Can someone explain how a topless, muscular man singing about doing things to ladies will force us all to switch off the lights, recycle more and use less water? To top it all, he made no mention of environmental issues, he instead thanked the audience for his number one single?!? (I can’t confirm this, as it was drowned out by a 6 week old baby passing wind in my ear as I was patting her on the back).

Other highlights : MNS Live Earth web site sponsored by Chevy. Pussycat Dolls strangely obsessed in getting the message across in a post gig interview that Philips energy saving bulbs would save the world. It seemed that everyone interviewed was about to or recently purchased a hybrid car.

Behind the entire event was Al Gore. A man with political aspirations staging an event to help, in his own words, “heal the world”. No personal agenda their then.

Then the events themselves, the power consumed, travelling, expenses, littering and so on. I know on the grand scheme of things that this doesn’t amount to much. But if the point of this was to send a message, it seems that the message had somehow gotten lost.

The acts themselves, never has there ever been a large group of artists all trying their hardest to “SELL MORE RECORDS”. They couldn’t give a monkeys about the environment, having so called stars tell us how to live when we all know they consume more resources and contribute to global pollution just as much as we do just smacks of hypocrisy at the highest level.

Couldn’t they have made better use of the time and money that went into the concerts? Al Gore must be in a position to get people to listen to him. Wouldn’t the effort that clearly went into staging the event have been better spent if directed towards actually doing something constructive? Apparently, according to a radio article I heard, most people came away having forgotten what the concert was about. Some have said that this concert did its job, it got us talking about the environment. True, but for all the wrong reasons. Rather than coming home thinking about ways to help, you instead come away commenting on how great the “Foos rocked” and whether Madonna really needed to swear.

Apparently, 2 billion people watched the event globally. That’s two billion electricity sucking TVs. Job done Al!

Personally, I could do a great deal more when it comes to living a more energy efficient life. I have started in a very small way, switching “things” off when not in use. Using less water, using the car less. It’s a start. To be honest, I am not sure what else I can do. Ah, a way of using the money spent on the concert. Instead, take the money spent on staging the concerts and combine it with a months worth earned by the stars that attended and give us normal folk the money and/or equipment to recycle waste, recycle rain water, install solar panels and insulate our homes better. Or maybe create more cycle paths, get manufacturers to drop standby modes, etc,etc…….