Deeper Shade of Green

As you may or may not know, I volunteered at the friends of Live Earth event 7.7.07. Below is a description of my experience. It was unbelievable.

Before I delve into details, I must explain few things however. Live Earth was happening on 7 continents, simultaneously, for 24 hours, to a combine audience of more then 2 billion people. However in the Americas, it was in New York only. Canada didn’t have one. Organizers of Live Earth anticipated that environmental groups all around the world would want to bring the concert to the local people, and thus ‘friends of Live Earth’ events were born. All over the world, more then TEN THOUSANDS such events took place. In Vancouver, few environmental organizations sat down and decided to do something (although a little too late) – such as the David Suzuki Organization, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Greenpeace, Sierra Club of Canada and many more. They decided to make a local concert, but had only 3 weeks to pull it off. That was incredibly ambitious.

The event was relatively small, and the venue a bit hidden (albeit it was downtown) but attracted enough people. We had local bands play on a stage and we were also broadcasting Live Earth from CTV on a projection screen. Over one hundred volunteers answered the call for help with this event. I was deeply impressed by the eagerness of the volunteers to help and make the event great. Many of them were there, like me, from 7am till 11pm. I got home after midnight.

As for the event itself, what can I say, except WOW! I don’t know how many of you saw how much of the event, but simply put, it was MONUMENTAL. This was, without any sort of exaggeration, history in the making. 7.7.07 was a day when the world stopped, came together and realized it needed to answer the call to action. Because our governments have failed us; because the corporations abuse us. Live earth is only the beginning; Al Gore has much more in store for us.

A revolution has started, and if you don’t believe it, you are fooling yourselves. The revolution is starting from the bottom, amongst the people, so the government and corporations cannot hide anymore from what we want: sustainable future. There is a pledge with 7 points that every single one of us can and in fact should take. Several thousands of people took the pledge already, which alone will reduce the amount of CO2 by an incredible amount.

You can all watch the entire Live Earth here. You can watch it by country, by celebrity or performer, etc. I was totally floored by what Robert Kennedy Jr. had to say. He didn’t shy away from the truth, directly calling the present US government and corporations TRAITORS for stealing our future. You really have to watch his speech, it is incredible (he gave it in NY).

Bon Jovi was great too – he was the 1st one to enlist when Al Gore called him – “Tell me when and where and I’ll be there” he said. Madonna composed a beautiful original song for this event; so did Will.I.Am of Black Eye Peas. Alicia Keys gave an awesome performance, and so did the Police, altering their song “Message in a bottle” here and there. Towards the end the lyrics are “answering the SOS” – how apt for this event, SOS Earth!

Of course Leonardo DiCaprio was there as well. If any of you are unaware, he is probably THE biggest Hollywood celebrity supporting the environment and is Al Gore’s friend in his fight for sustainable future. So many celebrities were present! Kevin Bacon, Cameron Diaz, Joss Stone, I can’t think of them all, I’m just remembering few of the top of my head.

I took away from this a new resolve to fight and educate the people around me and live more and more sustainably. I have met some truly wonderful people yesterday; most of the major environmental groups were present.

I will probably start also volunteering for Greenpeace and Western Canada Wilderness Committee – I respect these organizations tremendously. One person I got acquainted with from WCWC invited me to come along with them as volunteer to the Queen Charlotte’s Island, which is a huge island north of Vancouver island, where there are a lot of natives living there. WCWC often joins forces with the natives there and have their respect now and together they accomplish some wonderful things. They become a power to reckon with; and hold our corrupt, criminal government accountable. I can’t wait to go to Queen Charlotte’s island with them one day – it will be a very memorable trip.

In the end, I have regained a small hope that we might, as humanity, band together and save ourselves. It is only thanks to the thousands of volunteers worldwide who are working effortlessly to educate the people, stop the corporations from harming the environment and holding the governments accountable that this is happening.

It is thanks to the likes of Al Gore and David Suzuki that we gain momentum. Al Gore has already been written in the books of history as a hero, and quite possibly our saviour. To all of the people mentioned above, and to you, who is willing to take the pledge and answer the call, I salute you!