Live Earth - 07/07/07 - My take

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis. - source: www.liveearth.org

I spent a good part of Saturday catching glimpses of the concert around the world and the accompanying controversy

Pro-Live Earth : Create awareness, nudge people and their governments into action. Every person attending the concert is asked to sign a pledge that they would "go green". The concert was a live example of how a public gathering need not generate huge waste, for instance water provided water in paper cups as opposed to plastic bottles.

Anti-Live Earth: The urgency is exaggerated, if one does not depend oil the economy will go berserk, the concert is in itself creating more waste than it hopes to eliminate. More people drove to the concert creating more pollution than if they would have just stayed home and the concert were not to happen. People tuning into the concert are doing so more for the music and artists than any other reason.


My take: The urgency is relative, if the negative effect of global warming are not visible for the next say 100 years still the it is going to happen after 100 years. And 100 years is a very minuscule amount of time compared to the millions of years since the formation of the earth. The natural resources like oil and natural gas took millions of years to get to where we are, and we are finishing it up in a few thousand years. It is estimated that by 2050 we might use up the oil available today.
The polar caps are already melting at an alarming rate much higher than that expected and estimated my scientists. How then can the crisis not be imminent.
What if people go to these concerts still they are receiving the message. We live in times where we idealize celebrities, maybe the message will get across after all. What if everyone who pledged may not follow thorough but even if half the people do even a small part it would make a big difference.

So what am I doing about?

Enough said now time to evaluate what I do about it.
1. I carry a reusable grocery tote when I go shopping, I don't want those plastic bags on my conscience.
2. The reuse the plastic bags I cannot avoid, as trash bags for the smaller trash cans in my house.
3. I print only if it is absolutely necessary and that too on both sides.
4. I reuse the blank side of the few papers I end up collecting.
5. I drive only if absolutely necessary.
6. Fewer shopping trips, lesser fuel used.
7. I am very prompt is switching of lights and fans whenever not needed.

Things I am yet to work on:
My car, I bought the car less than a year ago and I admit it is a crossover. I wish I could exchange it for a hybrid but cannot afford it right now. I will as soon as I can. But then hybrid cars are not without controversy after all they are not electric cars they do use fossil fuel. May be sometime in future a car running on alternate fuel of some kind maybe even solar energy would come into being and accessible.

For now I am happy with what I am doing and would strive to continue doing is.