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Sing a song, save the earth?
by Michelle Minnoch

It's time to save the planet. The best way to do it? Well, some folks think a multi-continental rock concert will do the trick.

This Friday at 10pm, CTV will start broadcasting the first of 28 hours of non-stop entertainment from seven continents, starting in Australia, and ending on Saturday night, with coverage from New Jersey.

The concerts, airing from the U.S., China, South Africa, England, Rio De Janeiro, Germany, Japan and Australia, are part of a global 'warning' regarding the effects of climate change, and what the regular TV viewer can do.

The people behind the show, Live Earth Founder Kevin Wall and ex-veep Al Gore, are going to be asking the audience, both at the shows and on their couches, to support a 90 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 and a comprehensive international treaty, to be signed by 2009.

Wall said the concerts will get people to stand up and start making and demanding changes. With airtime on the television, internet and radio, those behind the concert are hoping you and I, the average Joe, are getting the message.

Whether there was a large staged show or not, I think we all have the message, are willing to learn more, but at the same time, are messaged out.

We have seen the movie, seen interviews on TV, read bits in magazines, and so forth. We all know what is going on, and how things need to change, for we now know that we simply don't inherit the planet from our parents, we borrow it from our children.

We have all been informed that change starts at home, and yes, I have changed my lightbulbs and unplugged my appliances I am not using. The Government of Ontario has taken it one step further, ensuring those nasty-energy-suckingbulbs are obsolete by 2012.

Although a rock concert can raise awareness - as we have seen during Live and Farm Aid - it is all sounding to the familiar-tune of "been there, done that".

Will it be a great show? Absolutely. Will millions watch their favourite artists take to the stage? Why not! Will it solve the climate crisis? Heck no!

Listen, I love to listen to live music as much as the next guy, but putting musicians onstage, and having celebrities take part via PSAs throughout the show is not the way things get done.

Sure, it will be a good time. Unfortunately, they are preaching to the choir.