Saturday, July 07, 2007

I missed it. (But not much.)

The first Live Earth concert in Australia, that is. Still, it must have had its moments. For instance:

Wolfmother's wild-haired Andrew Stockdale was more bombastic, in keeping with his Grammy-winning band's Deep Purple-style stadium rock aesthetic.

"Saviors of the world raise your hands," he shouted.

Is that not just pure comedy gold? I note, however, that a more cynical attitude towards the Live Earth concerts has begun creeping into even TASS er, CNN reporting.
Critics say Live Earth lacks achievable goals, and that bringing in jet-setting rock stars in fuel-guzzling airliners to plug in amplifier stacks and cranking up the sound may send mixed messages about energy conservation.
That sounds more like something from Les Jones' Live Earth site than from CNN. Pravda on the Chattahoochee remained staunchly loyal to the official party line, however:
"The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert," The Who's singer Roger Daltrey recently told a British newspaper.

Organizers say the concerts will be as green as possible, with a tally of energy use being kept. Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward distributing power-efficient light bulbs and other measures that will offset the shows' greenhouse gas emissions, they say.

"This is going to be the greenest event of its kind, ever," Gore told The Associated Press recently. "The carbon offsets and the innovative practices that are being used to make this a green event, I think, will set the standard for years to come."

...

In Johannesburg, four-time Grammy nominee Angelique Kidjo offered a tart response to Daltrey's comment. "Criticism is easy," she said during a news conference Friday that involved performers in the local concert. "And there is a kind of fashion of cynical people around us. You are cynical — what the hell are you doing to change the world? Get your butt out there. Do something."

And it is beyond time to do so, she explained.

Honey, according to your own beliefs about human effects on the climate, the best thing you could do for the planet would be to stay home and shut the hell up.

6 comments:

phlegmfatale said...

"Is that not just pure comedy gold?"

That's a big 10-4.

Maybe they need to station one of the saviors of the world under my Magnolia tree- three baby birds were in the lawn this week. Nature is dying out there, man.

Don said...

Thank God they came along to save us. I'm going to go kill some weeds. There's something about spraying poison on green plants that makes me feel cleaner today.

Anonymous said...

"Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward distributing power-efficient light bulbs..."
Hope no one drops one of their Compact Fluorescents and spills the mercury inside...

7.62x54r said...

I think I'll go crank up the Bronco and let it idle a while just because I can.

theirritablearchitect said...

"Hope no one drops one of their Compact Fluorescents and spills the mercury inside..."

The phosphor lining is fairly hazardous too, as there are usually several slightly radioactive compounds in it as well. These aren't the light elements that are low powered and typically inert (like your tritium powered night sights, which are a mildly radioactive isotope of Hydrogen), but the heavy metal types that shrink your 'nads and give you cancer.

The ballast can be an issue too, though they are supposed to be solid-state, with no PCB oils in them, but most of these units are built (shocker) in China, famous for adding ethylene glycol to your toothpaste! Who knows what's going into them?

Finally, it is indisputable that the garden variety CFL is far more an energy hog to produce in the first place.

I've been experimenting with some CFL lamps in my house, and my own observations are leading me to a couple of conclusions: The first is that the more expensive branded units are far better in terms of service life. Don't believe for a minute that the store-branded ones will last you 15 years or whatever their claims are. The best I've done with one in continual burn is about 3 years. The second is that with multi-bulb fixtures, the parallel arrangement of the loads tends to reek havoc on the ballasts of the second or third bulb from impedence drop. The short of it is, they burn out quickly.

Most importantly, CFL lamps SUCK at color rendering, making everything look sick or artificial. Can't wait 'til they go the way of the Dodo bird.

Anonymous said...

We must all become carbon neutral ... Nuclear Power Now!

A pebblebed Strontium-90 reactor can be made small enough to fit in an S.U.V. ... and should. You can also heat your home with the waste heat when you aren't driving it.

Hug your kids with nuclear arms ...