Live Earth. Hypocricy Run Amock

The Daily Mail has a great article about the Live Earth concert being held today. In case you missed it, Live Earth is a worldwide concert to "save the planet and bring awareness to the 'climate crisis'".

Too bad most of the performers will be arriving by private jets, flying over 222,600 miles. And that doesn't include transporting their technicians, dancers and support staff.

It's also too bad that the waste generated will be so huge that the recycling will be just a fraction of what was initially planned.

-A spokesman for Wembley says they only have the capacity to recycle around a third of waste produced - the rest will go into landfill sites.


-. Plans to ask the British public to turn off their electrical appliances during the Live Earth broadcast were scuppered when the National Grid pointed out that as everyone switched on again, a giant power surge could cripple the country.

-In York's Giants Stadium, trade unions have blocked Live Earth's attempts to recycle, and the 52,000-seater arena is not situated near public transport.

Now, some stadiums are much more eco-friendly, like this one:

The Aussie Stadium in Sydney will run the event on 100 per cent green energy supply. Each Australian Live Earth ticket comes with a free public transport voucher, while all the bathrooms will be waterless with waste being composted into fertiliser. (Does that mean port-a-potties? Can you imagine hundreds of thousands of people using port-a-potties?)

But, glory be, the stars can use "carbon offsetting". It seems that you can buy your way out of polluting the earth. Or, as Jon Bon Jovi so eloquently stated: "We wrote a cheque, we took care of our footprint and raised awareness, blah blah blah." (Honestly, keep your mouth shut and just sing, man.)

John Rego, the environmental director of Live Earth, says he expects to purchase at least 3,000 tonnes of carbon credits to off-set the event. It is believed the organisers will spend in excess of £1million on carbon offsetting to counter criticism.

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it be better to spend that money to actually plant trees or install solar generators or build wind generators in the first place instead of using it to off-set the "footprint" you've caused?

Don't get me wrong,I'm all for being responsible with our planet. I strongly believe in wind and solar power and clean nuclear energy. I wish our federal and state governments would make public transportation (light rail and a good train system) a priority instead of building more roads for more cars (because you are blocked at every turn if you want to do this as a private citizen).

But I will leave the final word to someone much smarter than me:

Dr John Barrett, from the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, says: "There is a huge irony in flying halfway across the globe in a private jet, eating up fossil fuel.

"The idea that you can offset the pollution you cause is just ridiculous. What these people at Live Earth have done is defined their boundaries to suit themselves, but there is no sense in which this concert is carbon neutral.

"Planting trees or investing in renewable energy does not reverse the damage of releasing huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the environment.

"It is far better not to pollute in the first place. Carbon offsetting can be a removal of guilt, but it is not an effective one."

"It would be far better for these celebrities to stay at home. Holding large concerts to highlight environmental concerns and cut carbon emissions just seems ridiculous. What planet do these people live on?"

What planet, indeed.