Photo by Rob Sinclair — 
Some Rights Reserved
Now that Live Earth has completed the around-the-world rock event to create energy for climate change, it is time for the critics and cynics to do one thing: Chill.
Of course, there are easy aspects to criticize (anyone count how many plastic cups were left on the ground in London?), and easy smirks of cynicism (anyone want to nominate a rock star who lives the humble life of energy-efficiency?).
No doubt, the best headline of commentary came from the Guardian: “The Artists Formerly Known as Huge Carbon Footprints.”
Bob Geldof did not see the same tangible pay-off of his festival creations for aid. Roger Daltrey couldn’t see the point of powering-up lights, speakers, and private jets to convince the world to power-down.
Yet, the Arctic Monkeys, who pointed out the hypocrisy of fronting for a cause that interferes with their desired life style, put one issue front and center: “It’s a bit patronizing for us 21 year olds to try to start to change the world.”
Oh Wow. (So much for all those graduation speakers who urge the youth to go out and make the world a better place.)
How sad it would be if their contemporaries thought the same way, with the same disregard for the role that music and the other arts have played in shaping — and changing — our culture. Have the arts solved the problems? Probably not. Have the arts helped to energize movements against war, discrimination, and totalitarianism? Probably yes.
So why not a cultural shift in how we think about the climate? Maybe the context of big productions loses the impact of an artist’s simple song. Maybe the rock star’s life today loses the immediacy of an artist’s powerful naiveté. (Remember Edwin Starr’s international anthem, WAR?) There is still something to be said for an event that audiences all over the world can share simultaneously — live in person, live on television, live on the net — a truly live earth.
Give credit to Live Earth for challenging us to think about how we use our resources: natural, technological, and artistic.
If the mega-event is too much of an iceberg for you, check out all the communities of artists and audiences around the world that have already begun to create Green festivals, initiatives, and resources. You’ll see this is a passionate and committed community — and one that is growing. Wouldn’t Al Gore be proud?
- Bill Reichblum
Mia Hanak is the executive director of the Natural World Museum, which presents art to engage the public in environmental awareness and action. For her work, she has been nominated as the “Iconic Museum Leader of the Next Generation” by the American Association of Museums and the Getty Leadership Institute. The Museum is embarking on its latest traveling exhibition, Envisioning Change, which opened in Oslo in early June. The exhibition features artists from all over the world, who create work that speaks to environmental issues associated with climate change. The Natural World Museum inspires audiences to think and act on the environmental message of the exhibitions.
