7-08-07 by Court
The global concerts on 7-7-07 designed to raise consciousness about global climate change already have their own extensive Wikipedia entry and the question is what’s next?
In the last twelve hours, I have seen two e-mail proposals circulating among green-tech’s avante garde to capitalize on the momentum for plugin hybrid vehicles and for overhauls of America’s power grid. At a 4 year old’s birthday party today, another father seemed genuinely moved to action by the pragmatic steps presented at Live Earth that he had not thought of — running cold washes with the family’s laundry and trading away old junk rather than throwing it out. I must embarassingly admit I had not really considered before Sundance’s Live Earth segment how eating Chilean grapes, rather than local ones, hurt the earth because of the environmental costs of shipping.
As a consumer advocate I am pretty sure that what will get Americans to change their behavior more than anything is cost. We care most about how oil companies are ruining the earth when they are making world record profits and charging us $3.50 per gallon. The question is how to sustain a geninue sustainability campaign.
The theatrical and creative talent that went into the production and marketing of Live Earth, so that it actually touched so many, was extraordinary. The questions for me now: If Live Earth is a declaration of war on climate change, where is the army to fight the battle day to day? Is it an army of the celebrities, by the environmentalists, for the people? Or is it more broadbased, and how can we make the enlistment official? How numerous is the Live Earth militia and what are the terms of its declaration of independence from King Oil? Where will the fight be next and how can we measure its impact?
7-7-08 could be much different for the global climate if these questions are answered soon and thoughtfully.