The absolute best part of Live Earth

[malaise]

is the number of young people at the venues. They're hearing way more than music.

Thanks Al Gore.

Add.:yourock: :yourock:

[Captain Angry]

1. Will those young people actually do anything new?

If my experience with the college kids in my town is any measure, they'll all recycle their water bottles on the way to driving all over creation to find the best new pair of shoes.

There are girls wearing those furry boots with sweatpants. Accessorized sunglasses, purses, etc. So while they might think greener in some cases, unless the consumption slows down, the wasteful fad based decisions, it won't really matter.

[knight_of_the_star]

2. That's a big assumption

First you are overlooking what said furry boots with said pants are made from and are overgeneralizing. Most of the other students I know at my campus are very thrifty and tend to push things as far as they can go if nothing else because its cheaper that way.

[Terri S]

3. that's the question for old and young, isn't it!

This isn't just a global concert, it needs to be the start of a global revolution where everyone makes a commitment. Let's hope it is only the beginning ...

[whirlygigspin]

5. The native Americans were perfect

I just loved Henrietta Mann at the Smithsonian!

What wonderful words.

[ClassWarfare2008]

18. The Native Americans weren't on the Bravo feed.

They could have thrown that in rather than endless replays of some lip-syncing bimbo who nobody will remember 5 years from now.

[malaise]

7. Agreed n/t

[LeftyMom]

4. Wow, did you really mean to sound that old and bitter?

Because that's how that reads.

PS If this is a generational thing, go look at who drives what and get back to me.

[malaise]

6. Agreed

If 10% of those in attendance and those watching do something positive to save this planet, that will be a great start.

[Captain Angry]

14. I guess it did come off like a "get off my lawn!"

I just am sick of the college kids that are wearing $1000.00 in clothes running up and telling me that I need to help them save the environment.

I'm doing my part. I sold a house, and moved into much smaller confines. I drive a hybrid, I don't waste money on fads. I have knocked my electric bill down to $16.00/mo. and falling.

I'm just concerned that this will be like Live Aid, We Are The World, Hands Across America, etc. Limited returns on great expenditures.

Hopefully awareness translates into something.

The Live Earth PSAs were awful. The millionaire in her mansion decides to put on a sweater and turn the thermostat down a degree. Wow. The actor with a kitchen larger than my apartment buying recycled paper towels now. I'm so inspired!

Now we get to see what happens. Do leaders around the world listen? Or do we get the status quo?

[malaise]

15. All valid points

We can push for change.

[Captain Angry]

17. Yes we can.

I've gotten my parents and my sister to do it.

I need to see if my sister in law needs CFL bulbs. My brother is in Iraq, so he's got enough to worry about. If they don't have them yet, I'll have her count them up, and I'll buy them a whole set.

Monday I'll ask my apartment complex to add cardboard to the recycling pickup. The local companies don't do it, you normally have to drive out to the landfill. But maybe it will be worth it for an apartment complex worth of people's cardboard.

And I will continue to shame the ever living shit out of a friend of mine who won't recycle because he's not paid to. I'm not even polite about it anymore. Today did inspire me to become mean about it. It's free for goodness sake. Some people need to be slapped.

[malaise]

33. Yes it's in our hands

Sometimes you have to shame people.

[sandnsea]

19. I think you missed the point

The point was that you don't have to totally give up a comfortable lifestyle to make a difference.

Although I personally found reusing water bottles hysterical. I mean, come on, what's wrong with a glass? But then, I find the whole buying water thing absolutely ridiculous in the first place.

[Captain Angry]

20. I didn't miss the point, I just didn't communicate my point well enough.

I have no problem with people being comfortable.

You don't need to buy 5 pair of shoes a month, or have a different outfit for every different day of the year to be comfortable.

People need to stop buying as much stuff, especially the disposable kind. My point is not poverty, it's reduced wasteful consumption. And the kids got both barrels because I've been dealing with the college kids that are all non-conformists while they dress alike. And when the fad changes, they ALL go with it, and trash a perfectly good wardrobe to stay cool.

[Reverend_Smitty]

21. What college are these kids going to?

I was broke as hell in college. I ate Ramen by the bucket because it was a 10 cent meal, couldn't afford to buy new clothes and shoes, and didn't even have a car on campus until my senior year when I needed one to drive to an internship. I observed a lot of conservation on campus, especially when it came to air conditioning and heating in the apartments because nobody wanted to pay high electricity bills. You could call us out on the pizza boxes, I saw a ton of them by the dumpsters during my tenure.

[Captain Angry]

27. With as expensive as school is everywhere...

The level of wealth the average student has to have on the way in, is much higher than when I went to school.

There are normal students of course, but they're the ones that stand out. The rest of the kids are dressed alike with the same sunglasses, the same phones, the same jeans, etc.

One explained how proud he was of his $400.00 sweater. I just about had a heart attack. You could buy all of the clothes I wore that week for under $400.00. And probably that month, but I'm not going to get nit-picky.

[Reverend_Smitty]

31. The college experience must be different at a private school versus a public school...

I went to the latter and I observed a great deal of frugality right down to the crappy kegs of beer served at parties...you had to hang on to your cup all night because you would get charged again by the party organizers if you needed a new one. This was still going on as of May 2006 when I graduated

[sandnsea]

22. I don't know anyone like that

Benefits of a small town I guess. :shrug:

Well, fashion, that's never going to go away. Better to focus on what you can change and let people be people with the rest.

[Captain Angry]

28. I agree.

I'm not trying to make them give up their fads. I know that it's how kids operate.

But to be pushy on the environment, and wasteful in other ways doesn't really get any progress.

I'm just glad they might be thinking about recycling, electricity, etc. When they mature and knock off the spending, they will have good habits already for the things that they do buy.

[sandnsea]

32. What, are you 80?

I don't know ANY generation that is putting the environment before their new HDTV or dishwasher or vacation. I don't know why you're picking on the kids. They're no worse than you were, no worse than any 70 year old that I know is. In fact, I live in a retirement town and the geezers have a helluva lot more than any of the kids do.

[AlGore-08.com]

26. Well, the "big theory" behind the PSAs and all these "pledge to shut off your lights"

Messages is that in order to get people who are not actively involved in a movement to start becoming politically active members of that movement, you don't ask them to do everything at once. You ask them to do one relatively easy thing. Once they do that thing, they are more emotionally invested in the idea behind the movement. They are much more likely to do a second thing. And the second thing leads to a third, etc., etc., and at some point they become so emotionally invested in the idea, they become politically active.

So theoretically, one of your overly consumerist college kids starts out changing their dorm room bulbs to CFLs, then start dropping their soda cans in the college recycling bins, then start getting POed that their city doesn't have mass transit they can use to travel off campus to the mall to buy their fuzzy shoes and start working on the college and/or the city to change that...

That's the theory. It seems to work for a lot of people. :)

[Harry Monroe]

23. Bottled water is the biggest scam ever perpetuated on us

For something you can get out of the tap for free. Studies have shown that a lot of bottled water is just that, albeit filtered. Buy a filter for your tap and save your money as well as reducing your use of disposable plastic. I have vowed to never buy another bottle of water and I've gotten my wife to agree to the same thing. Use a sport bottle and refill it from the tap.

[Nevernose]

29. No, "sports drinks" are the biggest scam.

Bottled water is just a close second.

God, "electrolyes?" You mean SALT? You mean that stuff that anyone in an industrialized nation is getting far, far too much of already? And notice that the caloric value of a sports drink is almost as high as a soda pop, except that we can't sell calorie-free diet sodas in schools anymore, but Gatorade is just fine. It's a TV commercial. Barring some professional athletes, a "sports drink" won't give you anything that you're not already getting in your daily diet -- even a poor one.

And bottled water? That one really freaks me out. "The water in this town tastes funny," is the CONSTANT refrain I hear. I've been hearing it literally everyday for the last 18 years. Except, if you look at the studies, we have some of the cleanest, purest water in the country. And since our country has some of the cleanest, purest tap water in the world, that means the "funny tasting" tap water they refuse to drink is probably some of the cleanest in the world.

You know what Coca-Cola's biggest seller is? Coke? Hell no. It's Dasani bottled water. Coke also owns Powerade; Pepsi owns Gatorade. And it's ALL bullshit.

[flvegan]

10. Enlightenment takes time.

Recycling their water bottles is a step forward, isn't it?

No concert is going to turn a 20 year old person into a car eschewing, off-the-grid-living, vegan recycle nazi.

[malaise]

11. As you said recycling water bottles is a start

so is turning off the tap while brushing their teeth or soaping in the shower. Turning off lights when leaving rooms also helps. Otherwise I agree with you.

[sandnsea]

24. Get a glass, really

Please, can folks get a glass!!

[Harry Monroe]

25. The experience of the Mississippi college town where I live..

..is that the kids are largely chickenhawks. They support the war and drive around with the "W04" stickers on their cars/trucks, yet let others do the fighting for them in Iraq. A draft would be a surefire way to actually gauge how much "support" is there for this war, especially among those of draft age.

[Captain Angry]

30. The kids here are oblivious that there's a war on.

I've seen a flyer, but no shirts. No protests. No statements in the school paper.

Maybe this fall they'll wake up. But the last two semesters haven't shown anything, so I'm not holding my breath.

[shireen]

8. this mid-40s gal is impressed too!

I've never been a big fan of concerts and vocals (prefer instrumentals-only music), and know nothing about current musicians. Who's Alicia Keys? LOL! I had to look her up on the internet.

But I tuned in around 10:15am and have been absolutely riveted! The energy is electrifying, the music has been amazing! I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed it.


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[malaise]

9. I'm a big Alicia Keys fan

love her voice and she's a progressive to boot. The young people around me keep me in tune with their artistes - I'm older than you :D

Al's on ABC news now and quite a bit of Live Aid is making the news.
Add.

[bleever]

12. It's a very good thing.

Makes me hopeful too.

[malaise]

13. Kanye West coming up in 15 minutes in New York n/t

[Uncle Joe]

16. I totally agree malaise,

today gave me more hope than I've had in a long time.:thumbsup:

And Al Gore does rock!:yourock:

[KAT119]

34. 100% Agreed, malaise:-))