For Live Earth, it's easy being green

We've seen this before: celebrities and rock stars banding together in a bold effort to save the world. It began with "Band Aid" in 1984 in response to the famine in Ethiopia. There was the "Free Tibet" concert, where it was painfully clear that political consciousness was lacking; both on the part of most performers, as well as the apathetic young people who paid for expensive tickets. There were the 2005 LIVE 8 concerts that dubbed itself the "Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).

In July 2007, there was the Live Earth concerts held concurrently around the world. The event kicked off in Sidney, Australia, then headed westward to Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London, Rio de Janeiro, and America's east coast. It was watched by an estimated 2 billion people.

Unsurprisingly, the event drew criticism from many who said it didn't address our culture of consumerism, how to improve energy efficiency, or how to decrease the amount of toxins released into the atmosphere. Others pointed to the hypocrisy of celebrities who flew in carbon-monoxide-emitting private jets half-way around the world to attend these concerts. I am certain there were those who couldn't pass up the chance of boosting their record sales.

It's easy bringing up non-threatening issues like global warming or recycling; after all, who could possible be against the preservation and health of Mother Nature? A consciousness-raising concert of this magnitude would never happen for issues like domestic violence, rape, female genital mutilation, homelessness, genocide in the Sudan, police brutality, etc. Who wants to be reminded of these unpleasant things when all we're looking for is to be entertained?

These days, being "green" is hip, popular, and image-boosting. Al Gore won an Academy Award last year for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, a film that focused on the threat of global warming. Environmentalism has been brought into the mainstream and further away from all those earthy, tree-hugging hippies.

For whatever reasons, celebrities always garner a great deal of attention. Their fame and ability to bring awareness to certain issues is perhaps their only usefulness; when they speak, the world listens. Time Magazine even put Bono on its cover, asking, "Can Bono save the world?" Please.

In reality, there are thousands of ordinary people working tirelessly to help lessen the environmental damage being committed against our planet. It's up to activists, organizers, and us as Americans to do the grunt work of making changes and having the conviction to follow through on our promises.

Given the way the world listens, the Live Earth concerts could very well be a starting point for many. It can be a catalyst for people to join the movement in the fight against global warming. Perhaps, in the end, this is a small accomplishment in and of itself.