Okay, so I had absolutely no plans to watch any of the Live Earth concerts. My plan had been to work on the laptop and mining the DVR to catch up on the various programs I’ve recorded over the last six weeks, but then I saw this amazing performance by a giant group of drummers (they were called SOS something, but a cursory inspection of the site didn’t how them), mixing rock, Brazilian, Japanese, Scottish and African percussion styles So, now I have the concert footage running as I work, occasionally muting it to avoid some of the less-than-interesting performers (Genesis without Peter Gabriel is just Phil Collins and I could do without him in my life) and the hosts, who prattle on, which I guess is their job.
In between the concert is some interesting information, and I truly hope it encourages more people to step back and think. I know that I sure as hell need to do more to act on the issues that are important to me – overcoming inertia can be hard. The conservation and environmental messages and delivered very well, they use the medium of television to the fullest – I just saw Robert Patrick, (think T2) with a set of garden shears trimming bamboo in what can only be described as slightly menacing, which is perfect delivery and attention getting. As he is clipping it, the narrator talks about how much more beneficial a stand of bamboo is over a stand of trees in relation to eliminating carbon and generating oxygen (30% – not too shabby).
Now, if only they hadn’t polluted the airwaves with Madonna.