The awakening, for those who needed it, was an inconvenient truth.
Beyond that Gore has begun to wear thin, due, in large part, to his mistaken “next step” following that film. The venue and its likeness to all the other meaningless celeb driven “feel good” is a magical reality, but nothing more.

The convergence of the problems and the collision that is upon us makes Gore’s show a last dance on the Titanic, at best. In other words, the cynicism is not Stacie’s, but Gore’s. Not, perhaps with intent, but by its sheer lack of congruence with the reality, which demands far more than some minor adjustments (”all together now”.

As you’ve alluded, Adam, we live on borrowed time, borrowed from our continued unwillingness to face the profound limitations of our environment. The truth, the planet is heating up, and the oil is running out, and our economy forces us into wars to “protect” the oil. While with the other hand the economic forces of an overextended empire are collapsing the very system which puts us all in harms way.

Yes, totally unsustainable.

To Michelle —
This whole petroleum-fueled system which every U.S. citizen alive today was born into, which provides us with just about everything we know — from our entertainment to the very food we live on, is totally unsustainable and getting worse and worse faster and faster. 99% of us, including the Al Gore fan-club, are in relatively near complete denial of the severity of our situation.

Al Gore also supported the repeal of welfare that the increase of the prison industrial complex. The wasted human lives in prison is a very much an ENVIRONMENTAL problem.

Before anything can be done about the “environment” you have to deal with human injustices first. Unfortunately you sound like an empty headed well-to-do liberal living in a bourgeois bubble.

BUT, as to the rest of the post, I really have to disagree with it. Not only is there a great deal of ignorance on the fact about climate change, but the noise machine that is spreading a great deal of misinformation is not going to back down. I think Live Earth was simply an attempt to drown out the noise machine. I cannot say whether it has worked or will work, but I surely do appreciate the fact that there is someone out there who wants to drown out the noise machine and get this problem solved.

Please do not merely excerpt one or two of the most facile solutions that Live Earth offers in its 7 point pledge, and hold them up to ridicule so that you can dismiss the entire effort. First, the pledge itself calls for commitment to take action on a grassroots political level to change policies, including “massive corporate waste and pollution” that are at the root of the issue. If there is anyone who has been vocal in pushing the envelope on these solutions, it is Al Gore. For instance, he calls for a Carbon Tax to replace the Payroll Tax. Now one of the candidates for 2008 has included a Carbon Tax in their platform. Gore is working on many, many, many levels at once. Please do not pettily, lazily dismiss his impressive policy proposals and extraordinary knowledge base on environmental issues based on the frivolity on one concert series. Live Earth is an effort to continue the work in a different sphere and to begin to engage a different group of people in whatever way they can become engaged on this issue. And no one suggests that the concerts are the end of the effort. To the contrary; the concert series is conceived as the kick-off to a years-long, sustained political, personal and grassroots effort.

For God’s sake, cynicism is just too easy, isn’t it? Takes not thought or time to just lash out in ignorance, bash someone, and click to the next page. Take a good, hard look at yourselves.

Not only are the purported solutions (change lightbulbs, more air in tires) known, but they’re stupid and will create little if any gains. Mr. Gore has no desire to address the massive corporate waste and pollution, the kind that’s at the root of the issue. That sounds too close to something like government regulation, and that would surely have an effect on his campaign donations, so leave them alone. Better to tell voters and people to “get their acts together” than to address the real problem.

I wanna see Cynthia Mckinney team up with Nas, Wu-Tang, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Dead Prez, Jill Scott, Immortal Technique and others on an anti-war/power of civil disobedience concert!! … I’m there for that one.

No Justice … No Sleep
SleptOn.com

“What person in their right mind would argue that human beings and all their amenities are not largely responsible for global warming”

Have you even been following the medias dismissive attitude towards the IPCC report on human effect on global warming, the pathetic attempt to cloud the issue by claiming it’s a theory and debateable. When exactly did it become the accepted norm that we are causing global warming. I don’t believe it is, and until it is, then attention whores or whatever you want to call Gore and these celebs who attempt to shine light on these really quite serious and fast becoming irreversible problems, are essential… and lets face it preferable to our ‘elected’ officials and business leaders who have to this point done fuck all.

When the sheeple reach your level of consciousness as far as understanding of global warming and how they are exaserbating the problem, then we will probably have to keep putting on shows like this to ensure pressure is brought to bear on the real problem as you put, “a few crackpot nihilists parading as conservatives intent on raping mother earth for fun and profit”.

BTW loved Bill Hicks too… Feb 26 1994 was just a terrible day.