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last night i had the opportunity to see an advance screening of the new movie produced and narrated by leonardo dicaprio – ‘the 11th hour’. the company i work for is partnering with warner bros. independent the film’s distributor. hence scoring some free passes!
the film is a documentary about the environmental state of the world. not just about global warming, it also touches on pollution, water issues, population etc. normally this type of movie would be right up my tree-hugger nature but i can’t quite recommend it. at least not whole-heartedly.
there is no question that the movie has interviews with some of the most brilliant minds alive today and that it’s talking about something of vital importance. but my challenge comes with the complete lack of hope i was left with at the end of the film. it was just so terribly overwhelming. i’m knee-deep in the eco-world as it is and i read about many of these issues every day and i care deeply that we as a collective human tribe figure out how to get out of the mess we’ve made for ourselves (and soon!). i wonder how the causal viewer who doesn’t know much about the issues would fare? i walked out feeling dejected and without hope.
i don’t think that’s what the filmmakers were going after.
i will say that i was very impressed with the roster of speakers, including one of my favorite’s – david suzuki, who had this to say in the film (an interesting perspective):
“i realized we’ve framed the environmental problem the wrong way. there’s no environment “out there” for us to interact with. we are the environment, because we are the earth. for me, that began a whole shift in the way that i looked at the issues that confront us and the way we live on this planet.” – david suzuki
there are some great bits in the film and i do think people should see it. click on the poster above to be taken to the film’s website, or here’s the trailer, and keep you eye out for it in your neck of the woods – check it out if it sounds interesting.
blogging via cell phone – how cool!
as promised – more from live earth. this one is going to surprise some of you… keith urban (who, i can honestly say, i’ve never actually thought about) had a scorching version of gimme shelter by the rolling stones (my fav stones tune). the thing that makes this interesting? alicia keys surprise duet. man that woman has pipes.
check it out:
greetings all –
as promised, more great performances from live earth. today; two video’s for the price of one.
the first is madonna’s absolutely incredible (and radically re-imagined – this is seriously wild…) version of la isla bonita. the second one is one of the cool-as-shit public service announcements. this one featuring a polar bear just tryin’ to get a little love.
again, take a minute and educate yourself about what’s happening with global warming. you won’t be sorry…
oh, and p.s., posts may be sporadic over the course of the next week. i go into rehearsals tomorrow for our upcoming semi-annual sales meeting (the biggest meeting we produce)….things are mad around here.
i know the following will be hard for most of you to believe, but there was a whole other musical thing happening on saturday july 7th besides the prince concerts in minneapolis <egad’s! shocking. say it ain’t true>. yup, it’s true.
live earth happened all over the world. as i was busy standing in long sweaty lines and getting my funk on (literally and figuratively) hundreds of bands, singers and artists took part in concerts on every single continent over the course of 24 hours. thankfully, with modern cable televisions, one can dvr 16 hours of footage, then fast forward to find the interesting bits.
all week long i’m going to share some of those interesting bits…. but we will start with al gore. the man who sparked an eco-revolution (and sadly, the man who is not president). here is his 7 point pledge. a pledge that i strongly suggest everyone reading this give some serious thought and consideration to. (the first one there, that’s specifically for my american friends)…
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i pledge to demand that my country join an international treaty within the next two years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and more than half world wide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth.
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i pledge to take personal action to help solve the climate crises by reducing my own co2 pollution and off setting the rest to become carbon neutral.
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i pledge to fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generated facility that burns coal without safely trapping and storing the co2
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i pledge to work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship and means of transportation
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i pledge to fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources that reduce the dependence on oil and coal.
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i pledge to plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting our forests.
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i pledge to buy from businesses and support leaders that share my commitment to solve the climate crisis and building the sustainable, just and prosperous world for the 21st century.
that’s not so hard to do is it? thought not. while not hard to do, some of you might be wondering how to do some of those (and more) things…
here’s a couple places to start to live life more ecologically minded.
all week long i’m going to highlight some of the really cool performances that live earth showed… we’ll start with the song that started it all – melissa etheridge and i need to wake up (this is the power of music people…. i got chills watching this performance):
atomicpop.wordpress.com 