I watched a little bit of the Live Earth concerts on Bravo and online this weekend and was pleased to see a couple of my favorite artists perform.  However I cannot help comparing the event to 2005’s Live 8 concerts to raise awareness of poverty throughout the world (though specifically in Africa).    The ONE Campaign message was drilled into the heads of everyone who even glanced upon the Live 8 concerts.  Between every set there was a video of a celebrity telling us how the average person can make a difference in a seemingly out of control problem.  I just didn’t see this with the Live Earth event, Al Gore spoke at the beginning but he is about as memorable as yesterday’s lunch.

On top of this a lot of criticism has been given to the performers of the event not being eco-friendly, or even eco-educated.  Unfortunately these people are an accurate reflection of the average world citizen, including myself.  Al Gore would have had a pretty dull event if he had only brought in artists that were model eco-activists.  The criticism is the equivalent of dismissing the Walk for Hunger because the people taking part in this event do not serve in a soup kitchen every week.  This was the platform that should have conveyed specific messages educating everyone on how the average person can do more to help the environment.  Leonardo DiCaprio should have been on our screens every five minutes telling us how taking advantage of tax benefits and high gas mileage makes driving hybrids affordable and good for the environment.  Or how about Cameron Diaz telling us to use energy efficient light bulbs?  These presenters probably said things like this but they were cut from the broadcasts, and therefore lost on millions of viewers.  In the end for many of us the event was about the music and not so much about the cause.