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Live Earth 2007

-- Anthony -- 07/09/2007

This past weekend, an estimated 2 billion people tuned into the Live Earth concerts taking place on all seven continents. The event - to raise awareness of the threat posed by global warming - was the largest of its kind ever.

I attended the Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., with several colleagues. As an undergraduate student originally from Northern New Jersey, but currently living and working in Washington, D.C., I was proud that my home state hosted North America's concert.

Throughout the day, the grounds of the sports complex were bustling with concert goers perusing the booths of organizations seeking to raise awareness of their global warming-related causes. Inside the stadium, public service announcements via the stage scroll screen and videos highlighted statistics regarding energy consumption and conservation between musical acts. Recycling and compost bins as well as corn-based biodegradable plastic beverage cups could be seen everywhere. It truly was a look at the Green Revolution.

The Live Earth concerts brought international attention to the issue of global warming. Each of us learned learned how we could reduce, offset, and even eliminate our own carbon footprints. Additionally, each of us recognized the importance of national and international initiatives to collectively confront global climate change.

In order to accomplish such measures, citizens the world over must demand that their elected leaders have the political leadership to make the tough decisions that will be required of them on this critical issue. For this reason especially, Live Earth emphasized the increasing importance of solving global warming as a priority to voters in the 2008 presidential election.