Tuesday, July 10, 2007

About Live Earth:

I didn't attend any concerts. I didn't watch any concerts on TV. I have seriously considered removing mp3's from my laptop of the various artists who flew to the Live Earth venues in their private carbon-belching jets in order to participate in Al Gore's "Worldwide Mass Persuasion Campaign" (shudder).

I didn't get to it. I did research who would be on my nix list, though. I watched the interviews on MSN Video... And I got distracted by an advertisement from a light bulb company asking me how many incandescent light bulbs I would commit to replace with compact fluorescents. Now this intrigued me. The fact of the matter is that I replaced all of the incandescents in my lamps about 2 years ago. Was it because I cared about the environment and was making a conscious effort to reduce my impact on the earth? Not likely. Was I concerned about the size of my electric bill? Well, maybe. The real reason I made the switch? I got tired of changing light bulbs.

I have tremendous faith in the human race. Above all, I have faith in the human race to be lazy. Perhaps we will all be persuaded in the next 3 to 5 years during which Gore intends to carry out his worldwide mass brainwashing campaign to convert all the sheeple of the world to the religion of the earth. Or perhaps the words he's using will give enough of us the heebie-jeebies that we'll stay firmly planted on our butts in front of the TV or the computer watching the celebrities on their spin cycle.

I don't believe that a bunch of celebrities jumping on the bandwagon, so to speak, is going to have any positive impact on the environment. Nor do I believe, for that matter, that if there really is a climate crisis here that's not simply part of the chaos that makes up the earth's climate, that makes meteorology one part science to nine parts divination, that we can actually do anything about it. But perhaps we can make ourselves feel better about it. After all, as long as it feels good and doesn't require much effort, it must be a good thing, right? Right?

Coming next blog entry: the things I do believe in, the difference between an environmentalist and a conservationist.