1. No Scott, u need to go away.

You are a typical example of the fact that republicans deny science and focus on idiology instead. Global Warming is happening, ask any scientist and he will say so. Its stupid to think that releasing tons and tons of CO2 into the atmospehere each day will have no consequences. Al Gore and everyone in Live Earth made a huge difference. I for one am already getting greener. And the funny thing is that getting greener actually saves you money, something rich, greedy, money-hungry republicans should like. You can save hundreds on gas a year by paying about 2-5 thousand more for a hybrid car. You can cut your energy bill by almost 15% if all the lights in your house were floresent. And even more money can be saved if you switch to energy star products. For example, i just upgraded to an energy star, low emmisions air condition for about $2,000. For my electric bill in june this year the bill was $108, last year at the same month it was $248. If that happens every month, i will have payed for the new AC in no time. So i ask whats the harm to going green? Live Earth didn't ask you to become a complete green freak overnight. But doing little things as buying energy star products when your old ones break, or taking showers instead of long baths, or turning lights out when you leave a room and using floresant light bulbs. The point of Live Earth was to show the world how making little changes can lead to a huge change. So even if you don't belive in "Global Warming", although this is clear proof, then why not go green, there are 2 things that no one can deny goiing green will do:

1) save you money
2) help the environment, who wants to live in a smog covered city, who wants to pay high prices for gas, etc.

And obviously yes Live Earth did use energy, but it clearly did more good than harm. It was one day, but it could influence us for years to come. Us "wacky" liberals aren't asking everyone to stop driving, or live in the dark like so many far right conservatives say, we just ask you to make an easy effort to help the planet. Is that too much to ask???

Patrick at 7:57PM on Jul 8th 2007

2. No Scott, u need to go away.

You are a typical example of the fact that republicans deny science and focus on idiology instead. Global Warming is happening, ask any scientist and he will say so. Its stupid to think that releasing tons and tons of CO2 into the atmospehere each day will have no consequences. Al Gore and everyone in Live Earth made a huge difference. I for one am already getting greener. And the funny thing is that getting greener actually saves you money, something rich, greedy, money-hungry republicans should like. You can save hundreds on gas a year by paying about 2-5 thousand more for a hybrid car. You can cut your energy bill by almost 15% if all the lights in your house were floresent. And even more money can be saved if you switch to energy star products. For example, i just upgraded to an energy star, low emmisions air condition for about $2,000. For my electric bill in june this year the bill was $108, last year at the same month it was $248. If that happens every month, i will have payed for the new AC in no time. So i ask whats the harm to going green? Live Earth didn't ask you to become a complete green freak overnight. But doing little things as buying energy star products when your old ones break, or taking showers instead of long baths, or turning lights out when you leave a room and using floresant light bulbs. The point of Live Earth was to show the world how making little changes can lead to a huge change. So even if you don't belive in "Global Warming", although this is clear proof, then why not go green, there are 2 things that no one can deny goiing green will do:

1) save you money
2) help the environment, who wants to live in a smog covered city, who wants to pay high prices for gas, etc.

And obviously yes Live Earth did use energy, but it clearly did more good than harm. It was one day, but it could influence us for years to come. Us "wacky" liberals aren't asking everyone to stop driving, or live in the dark like so many far right conservatives say, we just ask you to make an easy effort to help the planet. Is that too much to ask???

Patrick at 7:58PM on Jul 8th 2007

3. ^sorry bout the double post

Patrick at 7:59PM on Jul 8th 2007

4. We only have one planet, and none of us wants to destroy it. The Great Lakes were cleaned up, we can deal with greenhouse gases.

The bigger threat is nuclear winter, if nuclear weapons are allowed to proliferate, especially to unstable or terrorist supporting countries. Very few would survive a major nuclear war, and the ones who did might wish they hadn't.

Steve Bonomo at 9:47PM on Jul 8th 2007

5. I enjoyed the concert. It was fun. I don't understand when people make the environment a partisan issue. It is done on both sides. Some artist used it big times to bash the president. That was a little bit of a turn off. But in general I enjoyed the concert and I am willing to receive advise to use our resources carefully. For example I don't want to throw 1500 plastic bags away a year. I don't mind changing a light bulb to a different kind. I think whether you believe in Global Warming or not the concert was very helpful. It showed how a single person can make a difference by changing a small thing. I love to take care of the world we live in. I think it is important no matter which political party you belong to. I think Al Gore did a great job of putting it all together.

Sandra at 10:58PM on Jul 8th 2007

6. ^well said!!!

And to Steve, of course Nuclear war is something we have to be concerned about. But lets face it, what can you do personally to help prevent nucleur war, other than vote for the candidate who is for peace and against leading us into war? With the environment crisis, you and everyone can do so much to help. So yes there are a broad horizon of issue we need to be concerned about, but remember, just because you have multiple worries, doesn't mean you can't be a part of multiple solutions!

Patrick at 11:55PM on Jul 8th 2007

7. Scott, I wish you would read some credible science on this topic, so you would not perpetuate untruths that will hurt our children's future. No once says that ancient Greenland was not warm for natural reasons. Scientists understand those reasons, related to ancient climates, completely different from ours. What scientists are saying is that our current climate, the one we are used to and depend on, is being seriously and potentially irreversibly changed by the carbon that we are unburying and putting into the atmosphere. Wake up!

tony at 1:40AM on Jul 9th 2007

8. This earth has survived periods of cooling and warming, an ice age, volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, atomic tests, and massive fires. Yet it has survived. To think that an average heat up of half a degree means imminent death in a few years, well that's just plain hysteria. Little over a week ago, maniacs tried once again to bomb and kill people over their religion. They insist they will not stop until every "infidel" is dead. Yet Gore wants us to believe that a warm trend is the gravest danger we face. By the way, how many people know that the SAME year the average world temp went up, many weather stations in cold parts of the earth were shut down. Of course the average went up a bit!!

Tina at 2:38AM on Jul 9th 2007

9. What you people fail to understand is this: I own an environmental consulting firm. I know what the science says and it's not what you all believe. There's no great consensus among scientists because the data they have suggests this may well be a natural increase in temps.

I believe in saving energy and reducing carbon emissions for the right reason, people's health.

As for owning a hybrid, check the facts, a typical hybrid is run on batteries and fuel. Those batteries are nickel-cadmium, which is mined in strip mines in Canada. The devastation caused by the mines is breathtaking. So, for you to drive your Prius, the earth is being destroyed in other ways.

There's always a give and take. Get the facts here:
http://www.katu.com/news/7561002.html

Scott at 6:39AM on Jul 9th 2007

10. you obviosly don't know the facts Scott. let me see should i believe you or the top scientists in different countries(proving its not just a democrat belief) around the world? I choose to believe the scientists.

And of course hybrids are run on those batteries. But the good far outweighs the bad. Why do republicans have to continue to deny facts. I learned about greenhouse gases in the 4th grade. So if you admit the greenhouse gases lead to a warming of the earth's climate, then why is global warming so hard to believe exactly? I mean i was in 4th grade a long long time before all this talk about global warming came about. So if people knew that carbon and other gases lead to the earth becoming warmer, why are you denying that? And to Tina a half a degree rise every few years can be devastating. All it takes is one degree to begin ice melting. so when you think of it like that, a half of degree every few years is very very serious.

Patrick at 10:48AM on Jul 9th 2007

11. Wrong, the good does not outweigh the bad. You're still using natural resources that add to pollution whether it's air, water on land.

You fail to realize that there's not the full scientific consensus. Read what Bjorn Lomborg writes.

The Global Warming community is an industry. If someone offers you a grant to prove that global warming exists, you'll come up with any data to support your conclusion, offer at the risk of not showing data that goes against your position.

Wake up bud, in the environmental game, you can make numbers say anything you want regardless of the amount of science on one side or the other.

Keep following the crowd like a sheep and read both sides, you may be enlightened.

Scott at 12:32PM on Jul 9th 2007

12. ^i have read both sides and know both sides of the story very well and i am sure global warming is real. Your the one who needs to wake up and be enlightened!

Patrick at 3:58PM on Jul 9th 2007

13. OK Patrick you genius. Since you are so brilliant and well read on the subject, what does the Kyoto Protocols entail and why were they saying twenty years ago that global cooling was the biggest issue of our time?

Don't even try to debate me on this, buddy. I do environmental work every day and have forgotten more than you'll ever know.

Scott at 4:26PM on Jul 9th 2007

14. Scott,

I would never try to debate you, but I write a blog about energy saving appliances for my company. Perhaps, we can agree on this: If we use more energy efficient products, we will be less energy dependent and will save a ton of dough in the process. I am sure you have read the specs on bulbs for example. Changing a bulb can reap huge savings.

Elevating peoples consciousness to this point with music in my opinion may be worth it

Steve Sheinkopf at 5:52PM on Jul 9th 2007

15. Steve, I agree whole-heartedly. As is inevitable with most of these concerts such as Live Aid and Live 8 is that they rarely help solve the problem. The buzz disappears soon after the event is over.

As for using more efficient apliances and bulbs, again, I agree. I want nothing more than to save energy and reduce our reliance on mid-east oil. Again, there's always a downside. Fluorescent bulbs contain mercury vapor. If they are not recycled, that mercury enters a landfill and it brings a whole host of problems.

If we really want to clean our air, we'd go 100% nuclear like the French who are net exporters of electricity. Let's see if the environmentalists and global warming believers agree with that.

Scott at 5:56PM on Jul 9th 2007