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Stars line-up for climate change concerts
By This is London 16.02.07
Going green: Keane have added their name to the star-studded line-up
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More than 100 of the world's biggest names in music, including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bon Jovi and Keane, will appear in a series of concerts to highlight the threat of climate change.
Former US vice president Al Gore announced that the 24-hour Live Earth event will feature star-studded concerts in London and six other cities around the world.
The other cities involved will be Shanghai, Johannesburg, Sydney and locations to be announced in Japan, Brazil and the US. There will even be a concert in Antarctica.
Mr Gore introduced the event flanked by actress Cameron Diaz and rapper Pharrell Williams. British bands set to perform include Snow Patrol and Bloc Party as well as Irish singer Damien Rice.
"We have to get the message of urgency and hope out," Mr Gore told a Los Angeles press conference. In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to reach billions of people," he said.
"The climate crisis will only be stopped by an unprecedented and sustained global movement."
Other acts among more the performers scheduled to appear include the Foo Fighters, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow and the Black Eyed Peas. Williams said it would be "the biggest party on earth".
The proceeds will create a foundation to combat climate change led by The Alliance for Climate Protection, currently chaired by Mr Gore. The ex-politician's global warming film, An Inconvenient Truth, is up for two Oscars.
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Reader views (8)
It's written in the wind; Gore is still a bore and the planet is going all the way to hell in a Chelsea Tractor.
Enjoy the ride, folks, but remember the part that YOU played in the greatest adventure of all time.
- Ted, Shetland Isles
I never did get my free Nelson Mandela.
- Kit, Hounslow
Don't know Ted, ask Nelson Mandela.
- Pete, Lewisham
Why on this earth do we need pop stars to make us aware of anything?
- Ted, Shetland Isles
Exactly Ethan - here's hoping that the concerts are carbon neutral!
- Julia C, London
Maybe the members of the bands should be asked to debate the causes of global warming with the audience instead of blindly accepting Al Gore's view. How much is man-made? How much hotter has the sun become in the last 100 years? Do gamma rays come into the equation? If CO2 in the atmosphere produces more H2O clouds, why is the planet heating up when cloudy skies normally mean that the planet's surface is cooler? Answers to these questions would be of much more value to the public than a set of 'King Canute' concerts.
- Doug Watt, London E14
Anything that can be done to raise awareness and to get this issue higher up the political agenda the better, especially in the USA where the Americans have yet to sign up to the Kyoto agreement.
- Pete, Lewisham
Excellent, the opportunity for some bandwagon jumping and phoney baloney gesture polytrix.
Anyone care to guess how much CO2 is going to be generated by the tonnes of equipment being hauled all over the place and the people travelling miles to attend this shindig?
Can anyone explain exactly how lots of drunken youths listening to drug fueled music in a field is going to help the environment in any way?
Still maybe even Bonio himself will be there eh?
Why not just send your cash to Oxfam and stay home instead.
- Ethan, UK
