Live Earth was an event developed to increase environmental awareness through entertainment.

Background

Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

, ''Live Earth'' was built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world community to action. Live Earth seeks to leverage the power of entertainment through integrated events, media, and the live experience to ignite a global movement aimed at solving the most critical environmental issues of our time.

Live Earth 2007

The 1st series of benefit concerts were held on 7 July 2007. The concerts brought together more than 150 musical acts in eleven locations around the world and were broadcast to a mass global audience through television, radio, and live internet streams.

Live Earth India 2008

The 2nd ''Live Earth'' concert was scheduled for 7 December 2008 at the '' Andheri Sports Complex'' on Veera Desai Road in

Andheri Andheri ( �n̪d̪ʱeɾiː is a locality in the western part of the city of Mumbai in India. Udayanagari, the name of a hill near the Mahakali caves, inspired the name Andheri. On the former islet of Versova, also known as Vasave, there was ano ...

West, Mumbai, India and was managed by Kevin Wall who, after a request from former U. S. Vice President

, planned to have the entire event take place in India. In September 2008 Reuters stated that, "the December event will see U.S. rocker

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...

and Bollywood's biggest superstar,

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

share the stage, and is described by organisers as one of the biggest events held in India." Shekhar Kapur, Nobel laureate

Rajendra Pachauri Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (20 August 1940 – 13 February 2020) was the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2002 to 2015, during the fourth and fifth assessment cycles. Under his leadership the IPCC was awarded t ...

, Abhishek Bachchan, and Aishwarya Rai also planned to star in the event. Additional acts included

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst t ...

, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta,

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

of ''

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

'',

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

, Hard Kaur, and Anoushka Shankar. Palash Sen stated that his band, ''

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

'', was scheduled to launch a song written for the concert on the topic of global warming. ''Live Earth'' would have been broadcast by STAR TV (Asia), which works in conjunction with the ''

STAR Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, ...

'' channel (United Kingdom, Middle East) and the Star World Channel.

MSN MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

was "the exclusive global broadband partner for Live Earth India." The concert was cancelled shortly after the

November 2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, c ...

on 26 November 2008. Wall, Gore, and Pachauri stated in a joint press release that, "due to circumstances far beyond our control, we are saddened to announce that ''Live Earth India'' has been cancelled. We will continue to work for solutions to the climate crisis for the good of the people of India and around the world. But for now, our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims of this terrible attack, with the bereaved, with the people of Mumbai and with everyone in India." Some argued against the cancellation stating that "music could have helped fear-hardened Mumbai to ride the storm." Jethro Tull and Anoushka Shankar, who also cancelled their 29 November Mumbai concert after the

, reorganized the performance as ''

A Billion Hands Concert A Billion Hands Concert was a benefit performance held on 5 December 2008 in Mumbai, India, by Anoushka Shankar and Jethro Tull. All proceeds from the concert went to victims of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. The concert was originally plan ...

'', a

benefit performance A benefit performance is a type of live entertainment which is undertaken for a cause. In its original usage, benefit performances were opportunities for an actor to supplement his/her income. In its modern usage, benefit performances are given to ...

for victims of the attacks, and held it in Mumbai on 5 December 2008.

Dow Live Earth Run for Water

The Dow Live Earth Run for Water took place 18 April 2010 and consisted of a series of 6 km run/walks (the average distance many women and children walk every day to secure water) taking place over the course of 24 hours in countries around the world, featuring concerts and water education activities aimed at igniting a tipping point to help solve the water crisis. Jessica Biel,

Alexandra Cousteau Alexandra Marguerite Clémentine Cousteau (born March 21, 1976) is a filmmaker, sustainability Keynote Speaker, keynote speaker and an environmental activist. Cousteau continues the work of her grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau and father Philip ...

, Pete Wentz, Angélique Kidjo and Jenny Fletcher were due to lend their names and their time in support.

Controversy

Before and after the event there was concern over the sponsorship of the Run For Water by

Dow Chemical The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

, whose sponsorship of this event has been described as "the ultimate in greenwashing", given Dow's ownership of Union Carbide, their refusal to clean up the Bhopal site, plus their direct responsibility for groundwater poisoning incidents in

Morrisonville, Louisiana Morrisonville was a small town in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States that was contaminated with industrial pollution from a nearby Dow Chemical Company vinyl chloride factory. The town's residents — predominantly African American — w ...

and the Tittabawassee River in Michigan. Their much-publicised water filtration plants in India have failed because the local population cannot afford to replace the expensive high-tech filters.

Host cities

The Dow Live Earth Run for Water was hosted by about 200 cities around the world, including: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Cape Town, Chicago,

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Istanbul,

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

, Jerusalem, Jimbaran, Karachi, Lima,

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mexico City, Minneapolis,

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, Montreal, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, San Diego, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Seattle, Singapore City,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, D.C.

Live performances

Many of the cities featured live entertainment following the 6K run/walk. Artists include Melissa Etheridge in Los Angeles with

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

; special guest John Legend in Brooklyn's Prospect Park; Rob Thomas in Atlanta; Collective Soul with special guest

Sam Moore Samuel David Moore (born October 12, 1935) is an American vocalist who was a member of the soul and R&B group, Sam & Dave, from 1961 to 1981. He is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame (for " Soul Man"), and the Voc ...

in Chicago; Kany García in Mexico City;

Kevin Johansen Kevin Johansen (born 21 June 1964) is an US-born Argentine musician and singer-songwriter. He is known for mixing several rhythms and languages in his musical work. Biography Kevin Johansen was born on June 21, 1964 in Fairbanks, Alaska, to Marta ...

and The Nada in Buenos Aires; and Slank in Bali.

Cancellations and protests

Demonstrations against the run had been planned by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.Hackney gazette news story
(accessed 20 April 2010) The Dow sponsorship of the Run For Water was protested by organizations representing the victims of the Bhopal tragedy, supported by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

. Planned events were also cancelled in Milan. In New Delhi, the event was protested by a group of activists who disguised their involvement by creating a fictitious front organization, the Hindustan Sea Turtle Alliance, to register their event with Live Earth.

Beneficiaries

All donations raised by the Dow Live Earth Run for Water will be disseminated to fund

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

and scalable water programs. A growing global network of NGO partners including

Global Water Challenge Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * Global (Paul van Dyk album), ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * Global (Bunji Garlin album), ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * Global (Humanoid album), ''Gl ...

, A Child's Right, Akvo, Fondo Para La Paz, Indonesia Water Partnership
Lien Aid

Pump Aid Pump Aid is an international non-profit organisation that was set up in 1998. It is headquartered in London and delivers all its services in Africa, mostly in Malawi. Pump Aid is a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) NGO and is part of a worldw ...

, Wildlands Conservation Trust, and many others.

References

External links

Official Live Earth website

Live Earth video site
{{Rock festivals 2007 in music 2008 in music 2010 in music Benefit concerts Musical advocacy groups International environmental organizations Music festivals established in 2010 Music festivals established in 2007 2007 in the environment July 2007 events