LIVE EARTH

[Simon]

Watch LIVE EARTH live on MSN: http://liveearth.msn.com

The official site: http://www.liveearth.org

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

Live Earth will reach this worldwide audience through an unprecedented global media architecture covering all media platforms - TV, radio, Internet and wireless channels.

Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and other international organizations to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance and Partner of Live Earth.

Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, the Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, an event that brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty. Wall formed a partnership with Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to ensure that Live Earth inspires behavioral changes long after 7/7/07.

Live Earth will stage official concerts at Giants Stadium in New York; Wembley Stadium in London; Aussie Stadium in Sydney; Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg; Makuhari Messe in Tokyo; the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai; and HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg.

Live Earth concerts will be broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN at http://www.LiveEarth.MSN.com.

With support from the U.S. Green Building Council, creators of the LEED Green Building Rating System, Live Earth will implement new Green Event Guidelines. All Live Earth venues will be designed and constructed by a team of sustainability engineers who will address the environmental and energy management challenges of each concert site, as well as the operations of sponsors, partners and other Live Earth affiliates. Each venue will not only be designed to maintain a minimum environmental impact, but will showcase the latest state-of-the-art energy efficiency, on-site power generation, and sustainable facilities management practices.

Live Earth is a project of the SOS campaign , which is using a powerful multimedia platform - films, television, radio, Internet, books, wireless and others - to move people to combat the climate crisis.

[Simon]

Now this is impressive: http://www.liveearth.org/?p=222

MSN ANNOUNCEMENT: MORE THAN 10 MILLION WATCH LIVE EARTH ON MSN - MOST SIMULTANEUOUS VIEWERS OF ANY ONLINE CONCERT

A landmark audience of viewers from around the world has united at http://www.LiveEarth.MSN.com to experience the excitement of today’s Live Earth concerts and to confront the threat of global warming. As of 3:00 p.m. EDT, MSN had received a total of more than 10 million video streams and has the most simultaneous viewers of any online concert ever.

Viewers worldwide have already watched the Live Earth concerts via the live webcast, and the LiveEarth.MSN.com audience will only increase. On-demand footage of all performances, along with artist interviews, backstage footage, easy searching capabilities for specific songs, artists and more, will be available from all eight official concerts at LiveEarth.MSN.com for the next several weeks.

“History is being made today,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN. “Millions of people around the world have joined together to fight the climate crisis. The over 10 million streams MSN has delivered so far today represent a milestone in live Internet broadcasting. We expect to see an even greater number of streams after the concerts are over as people return to watch their favorite performances or enjoy them for the first time if they missed the concerts live.”

“Live Earth is committed to providing our global audience with ways to “Answer the Call” and individually make a difference to help solve the climate crisis,” said Kevin Wall, founder and producer of Live Earth. “By providing the opportunity to view the shows in their entirety online, coupled with our unique solutions campaign we’re able to communicate this message on a mass-scale in a way that engages people and inspires them to act.”

[Simon]

Right now, the Live Earth concert series is ongoing in each of the seven continents. Spearheaded by Vice President Al Gore, the event “marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign…to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming.”

With more than 2 billion people in 100 countries across the globe expected to tune in, the concerts are “an unprecedented opportunity to ask for the world’s attention long enough to deliver an SOS and then to begin delivering information about the solutions to every single person,” says Gore.

But the right-wing is pushing back against the concerts in an effort to protect the interests of the oil lobby. Leading the charge is the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a think tank funded by both the oil and auto industries. On MSNBC’s Tucker yesterday, Myron Ebell, the director of energy and global warming policy at CEI, said Gore “makes this stuff up” about global warming and “there is no scientific support for his claims.” Watch it:

And another quote:

For example, the Live Earth organizers intentionally organized the concerts in such a way that a minimum of jets would be used. “In the planning stages, all air travel has been put through a rigorous approval process and trips deemed necessary” are being offset through carbon credits and investments in renewable energy, John Picard, leader of the event’s sustainability team, told the Associated Press.

[url:21a94]http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/07/live-earth-report/[/url:21a94]