Former Vice President Al Gore sent an SOS to the world and July 7, 2007, will mark the day many big-name rockers, actresses and actors finally heed his call, joining hands and triggering a global movement to “save our selves” and a climate in crisis.
SOS or Save Our Selves, a “campaign for a climate in crisis” and the worldwide indicator for distress, is meant to alert the nation to the pending dangers of global warming, if Gore’s Academy Award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has not already done the trick.
The SOS promotion was founded by Kevin Wall, the creator of 2005’s Live 8, and is being produced by his company Control Room.
The 24-hour Live Earth concert series will span seven continents and is expected to draw a crowd of more than one million.
At least 150 artists will headline the event and all proceeds will structure a foundation of continued large-scale effort against the climate crisis led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, an organization that Gore chairs.
The MSN network quickly linked itself with Gore, providing sponsorship to ensure an average of 2 billion viewers via Internet. Partnerships with NBC-Universal, SIRIUS and XM and the BBC, as well as media providers in Japan will also ensure worldwide viewership through television and radio, as Gore has said only drastic measures and grand participation will result in change.
Concerts will be held in stadiums across seven continents; as of now, known host cities include Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, London, Rio and Kyoto, Japan.
A U.S. location has yet to be determined, but both New York and Washington are in the running. An unnamed performer is also scheduled to be the first to rock Antarctica.
A countdown on the campaign’s Web site keeps time; ticking away the number of days, minutes and seconds until the events of 7/7/07 unfold, perhaps spurring a revolution in sustainability. Among the artists and bands scheduled to perform are the Black Eyed Peas, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snow Patrol, Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, Lenny Kravitz, Mana, Snoop Dogg, Faith Hill with Tim McGraw, Pharrell, Paulo Nutini, Sheryl Crow, AFI, Melissa Etheridge, John Mayer, Damian Rice, Ray LaMontagne, Corinne Bailey Rae, John Legend, Akon, Enrique Iglesias, Fall Out Boy, Keane, Kelly Clarkson, Korn, Prince, Oasis, Wolf Mother, Roger Waters, Stereophonics and Bloc Party.
The Police, U2 (no campaign is complete without Bono at the forefront) and many other bands are also rumored to take part in this landmark event, though contract obligations and/or scheduling conflicts have prevented confirmation.
Live Earth will not only implement a course of environmental action but will also enforce green methodologies following a Green Event Standard, which was organized in affiliation with the U.S. Green Building Council to develop LEED-approval.
The Green Team, a group of designers and engineers led by John Picard, will ensure each venue meets environmentally friendly standards, using energy efficiency technologies and other means of sustainability.
Based on this example, all carbon neutral concerts and live events will follow the Green Event Standard in the future.
SOS was designed to provide the resources necessary for prevention, inviting the world to unite in a global effort to instigate awareness and action.
As Gore says on the campaign’s Web site “Only we can Save Our Selves from our climate crisis. And we must.”
For more information on Live Earth or to become involved in the SOS campaign visit www.liveearth.msn.com or www.saveourselves.com.
Jessica Bell can be reached at jbell@ulv.edu. Kady Bell can be reached at kbell@ulv.edu.
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.