Live Earth

A Letter to Al Gore:

Watched part of Live Earth last night. Came away with a real empty feeling. I mean the only Inconvenient Truth was your waist line and the lack of any geopolitical way your objectives can be achieved. Forget your decision to run for president, let’s get you to make a decision about eating right.

That to me symbolized this empty statement, or as Bob Geldof says a "waste of time." He states the obvious position about global warming, that is, everyone is extremely aware of it and that were is the power in the statement. I truly appreciate the effort and awareness, but in the end, celebrities and musicians will only have impact when they can do as Bono did, sit down and help make decisions.

For me the hollowness of the event was the inane questions and statements asked by Carson Daly and answered by musicians. I think Alicia Keys is adorable and means well, but it will take much more than changing from incandescent bulbs to fluorescent to change the World. I think the real question is, “What choice does a hungry family in New Orleans have between buying a fluorescent light bulb and healthcare, or food?” This Whole Foods, Prius, environmentally conscious clothing brigade is participating in the same thing they criticize economic rationalist capital pigs of participating in: class warfare. How many people in this country can afford cars? Granted, each celebrity is saving the World because their fourth car is a hybrid. The choices suggested by Cameron Diaz are wonderful ideas, however, the bulk of people in our country, let alone some Chinese village, have much more dire choices to make then how green is their car or home. In our country, class warfare, or envy, is the matter at hand.

If we can create enough consumers who will be more interested in Shakira’s next album, rather than her commitment to global environment issues, the powers that be shall win. Hell, even the oil and gas industry had an ad on the program. How green is that? The class warfare of creating a culture of want is ultimately what will cause our demise much faster than the ozone depletion. A class warfare which tells people the biggest choices you can make are about whether to choose paper or plastic is not seeing the forest from the trees.

Have we forgot about the disaster of New Orleans, the manipulation of the vote by the powers of certain ideologies (both left and right), the ultimate destruction of freedom concerning a war in Iraq? Last time I looked, I didn’t see a World Wide concert for the end to War. Didn’t see actors and actresses in unison speak out about this travesty. Kanye West was right; George W. Bush doesn’t like Black people. Or poor people. Or Mexican people who are poor. Or anyone who is poor. Neither do is constituents. Neither does Hillary Clinton, or Thomas Friedman. Because if these two would look closer, they would discover we don’t live in a meritocracy. I doubt they’d ever admit it for fear of loosing money.

So, Bono, Sting, Coldplay and Madonna, put on a concert for an end to War. Put pressure on Britian and the USA to end the War in Iraq. Global pressure. Organize a concert in the USA for a restoration of New Orleans. Federal money to go to the cause. Let’s do a Huey P. Long. Call it socialism if you like. Some politician should take such a stand. Everyone loves to rip Sean Penn. I didn’t see Sting paddling a canoe in New Orleans to help victims like Penn did. Of course not, Sting is a British citizen. I guess that applies to Madonna now, also. Penn is one of the few celebrities that embraces progressive politics without having a press conference. He went to the streets in Nevada during the 2004 elections to encourage voter turnout in that state, a swing state. Ask Alicia Keys what a swing state is, and she’d probably say, Georgia because of the country music. Maybe I’m being unfair to Alicia, but I’m only using her as an example. I’m certain she is a wonderful human. I just wish she could talk to her friends in the NY barrios to determine what they are really concerned about.

So here is the meat of the issue. Get off your rear Al and run for president. Make a change here first. You can convince every person in America who makes over $80K a year to conserve and go green, and you can convince every college age kid that global warming is the issue of our time. However, if you are willing to let the poor get poorer, the uneducated become more uneducated, and the sick go uncovered then you will see our country degrade. You be the new Huey P. Long. Get yourself in the fight. Get these celebrity dilettantes to fund your effort. Mike Gravel who was one of the lone voices speaking out against the Viet Nam conflict in the 70s is running for president. He has not chance, but when that is the case, people generally talk the truth. Do the same Al. Lose 50 lbs. and get in the race. Hell, forget about the weight. Just get in it. With the success of the movie and the book, you have the collateral to do it. I disagree with you. You can make a bigger impact in US politics than you can with this “global issue”. No one will sit down with you and Melissa Ethridge to change this issue. But they will sit down with the President of the United States. And maybe Bono.

Mike Shannon