Live Earth

Today is the Live Earth concert(s) that Al Gore helped organize (one on all 7 continents), to benefit causes to combat climate change. Will this concert do anything to tackle the serious crisis of climate change, any more than 2005's Live 8 event eradicated world poverty or 1985's Live Aid ended suffering in Africa? No, of course not.

But it's very hard to be cynical toward the people who are trying to make a change, when there are so many out there who don't care, or don't even believe that there is a problem.

The concert organizers got two pieces of good news this week. The first was that a Brazilian judge overturned the cancellation of the Rio concert. Muy bueno! The second was that, after an initial blocking by Senate Republicans, Gore announced an additional concert, this one in DC, on National Mall at the National Museum of the American Indian.

For those, like me, without tickets, Sundance Channel will be broadcasting live all day.

[PS- I'm sure those in the western U.S., dealing with a record heat wave, are thinking about this issue this weekend. And Time's recent piece-- '51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment'-- is always worth a second look.]