Live Earth was an initiative aiming to draw attention towards global warming through series of 24-hour live music concerts in the 7 continents of the world on 7.7.07. Aimed at starting a global movement to combat climate crises, Live Earth marked the start of a monumental campaign spearheaded by Alliance for Climate Protection (ACP) and the Climate Group to turn the tide against climate change. Led by Al Gore, former U.S. Vice President and Kevin Wall, founder of SOS the concert showcased nearly 150 music artists and 7000 events spread across 129 countries and turned out to be the biggest musical event ever staged.

Live Earth called on people around the world to reduce their carbon output by bringing some changes in their living environment and disseminated information on how individual efforts could save our planet. The concert was not just a music extravaganza, but promoted greener lifestyles through public service announcements, videos, cartoons and theater shows as well. It also sent messages of energy conservation by implementing the new Green Event Guidelines with the help of U.S. Green Building Council. Various environment and energy alternatives were adopted to have minimum environmental impact. The concert had recycling containers dispersed around, energy-efficient LED’s for lighting, generators running on biofuels and showcased the latest state-of-the-art energy efficiency and on-site power generation. At the show in New Jersey, Al Gore was joined by the audience in making “the pledge” towards reduction in global warming pollution for a healthier earth.

But critics have other things to add on about the concert. Many feel that some of the shows seemed mostly focused on the music. They also criticize the fact that music artists, who themselves have a huge carbon imprint with their jets and high consumption lifestyle- why should they be asking others to be more environment friendly? The question people raised were that no doubt efforts were made to reduce energy consumption and minimize the environment impact; it is not clear how successful these efforts were. Also there are no details on whether the carbon offsetting and energy minimization were extended to municipal activities associated with the concert. There is no information on whether there was any goal of achieving a certain percentage of energy efficiency. Some artists like Madonna were slammed with criticism over her carbon footprint from her nine houses, cars, private jet and tours. Large stadium concerts are not so eco-friendly hence though, no doubt that the event was comparatively environment friendly than any other stadium event but it was not near being carbon-neutral.

Despite the mixed feelings over the concert, Live Earth has definitely generated a global response to the serious threat that our society faces today of Global Climate Change and is a reminder of a need to adopt a change to turn back the clock. It united nearly 2 billion people across the world via the concerts, radio, films, television, internet etc. and initiated a process of communication that could drive the change.