Update on Live Earth, a poll on artistsdirect:

[Jackpine Radical]

www.artistsdirect.com

After watching Live Earth, will you change any of your habits to be more environmentally conscious?
Yes - I'll conserve energy, recycle more, etc. (35.34%)
Not really because I'm already an eco-superstar (13.59%)
No - it was just a cool rock concert (15.34%)
No - don't care/didn't see it (27.18%)
Still not sure what I can do (8.54%)

They didn't repoet the number of respondents.

[MatrixEscape]

1. That's great ...

It means big profits for those now, suddenly and surprisingly, getting on the eco-bandwagon, (ah, who was fighting it tooth and claw all along?).

It means more resources, (as they gradually grow more scarce) for the upper-end and corporations.

It supply's some great, feel-good, PR opportunities for conglomerates and corporations, just when they were starting to get the negative attention they deserve.

How, and by whose insidious methods and lobby-esque dictates, did we get to the point of polluting the planet without discrimination? Oh, the people who are now going to save us, of course!

Let's all get behind them? I am not for wasting energy or polluting the planet, (and I am agnostic at this point about the cause and nature of Global Warming) but this "movement" becomes suspect for the reasons noted above.

I mean, we know how it all works or we don't. So, either this is just a downer rant, or you look behind the curtain. Your choice.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. I report. You decide.

[MatrixEscape]

3. Of course!

No shooting the messenger ;)

Cutting pollution, waste, and most importantly, consumption, are realistic and practical matters that should have always been a modus operandi.

But wait, cutting consumption? Yes, massively and across-the-board! How does that effect the bottom-line? Perhaps having other, (more enviro-friendly) things to consume in mass quantities is a source of viable revenue, no matter what the ratios or realities are, like how much petroleum it takes to produce bio-fuels, or how much pollution is created and energy consumed by companies gearing up for this new, artificially-created trend?

I would cite these points for discussion:

Why Live Earth Will Fail
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/06/2334/

The simple but profoundly depressing fact is that the entire world economic and political system as it exists today is based around practices that are destroying the planet slowly but surely. The corporations, political elites and others who benefit from the existing system are not good Christians and will not be swayed by Bono’s religiously grounded arguments. They are not good environmentalists and will not be swayed by Al Gore’s arguments at Live Earth. They will do whatever is necessary — lie, cheat, steal, oppress, exploit, murder and wage war — to maintain control of a world economy that sees half the world living on $2 per day or less while inequality and poverty increase in line with the amount of CO2 in the air, in order to continue to reap their huge salaries and bonuses and maintain their stranglehold on power.

(Note: I agree with the fact that MASSIVE changes, not quick, profitable, trendy feel good) is what is actually required. The rest is a drop in the bucket and does not address the larger, global issues well.)

Live Earth’s Gross Groupies
http://www.junkscience.com/ByTheJunkman/20070705.html

Live Earth is DOA
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/live-earth-is-doa/

I would prefer the pros and cons of discernment in place of easily manipulated, passive acceptance of well-spun, easy to digest, ideologies and mass movements. Perhaps some pros and opinions can counter my natural proclivity to react strongly and with skepticism in respects to social engineering and its remarkable impact on masses.