In Continuum.

Live Earth



"I woke up this morning with hope. Excitement, even. Live Earth is taking place in 48 hours, and I'm starting to feel the first ripples of what could become a revolution.

I hope that for all the cynicism that's existed around this subject, we can all uncross our arms long enough to give this event a chance to impact the world in the way that I'm beginning to feel that it could. Now isn't the time to dissect the rights and wrongs. (If you're hoping Live Earth doesn't work, you have a lot of soul-searching to do.)"

--- John Mayer, from his online blog.

It is twenty-four hours to the day that may possibly be the first day to a revolution. Standing on the brink of such overwhelming possibilities, one start to wonder if such dreams and hopes are merely the result of much daydreaming and foolish thoughts. After all, how many times have mankind been disappointed time and time again, by massive call to arms when we end up in much dismay and even bloodshed? We have seen that in the Crusades a few centuries again, large amount of people coming together for their beliefs, for their religion, for their causes. The feeling of having a whole nation unite under one flag and banner, is something that men need in times of dire. And such times have come with our Earth disintegrating, crushed like eggshells within our own palms. It is time to do something about it, and I am glad to be - one way or another - part of it.

We have seen concerts like this before, from the Woodstock concerts in the 60s and 70s, to the Glastonbury concerts in the 80s all the way until now. Tens of thousands of people flocks to a specific location to celebrate a common entity - the life in music. We've also seen similar acts in Live Aid, the concert in 1985 and the Live 8 concert in 2005 to battle against poverty in Africa. However, I have never been truly part of such an event before, viewing the videos off websites like YouTube, and doing something else on the days of the concerts. I wasn't even born when the first Live Aid concert was held, and I was ill-informed about the Live 8 concert as well. I was probably somewhere in the fields, trotting through jungles and swarms and cursing at the skies for this ugly vocation of mine in the army at that time. Poverty in Africa really was something at the back of my mind as much as I hate to admit it, and something that has little effect on me as a soldier then, and a student now.

I guess the idea of poverty in Africa is just a concept that is too far away for me to fully comprehend. Things are just happening too far away for people here to know, to feel, and to really be concerned about the situation. Sure, there is a part of me who knows about the situations in Sudan and Somalia, and also the various news coverage we see on television every single year. Poverty is almost like a plague in our minds, a virus that is infecting the better part of Africa and pulling it behind all the other countries in the world. But living in the comfort of my own country and taking everything for granted one way or another, one develops the attitude that if it doesn't affect me, then it doesn't concern me at all. I am guilty of that to a certain extend, which might have been why I was the highest donor in camp when it came to the charity fund for the tsunami stricken countries, as well as the orphanage fund in India. I guess when it comes to making somebody else's life better, it helps with a heart and the first cent.

However, the same cannot be said about Live Earth anymore. You are not going to say "Oh, the climate has got nothing to do with me at all", because the very air you are breathing has got to do with the kind of environment we are living in. If you are truly so ignorant as to make the above statement, then we should presume that it is OK for us to volunteer you for the next NASA space expedition to send you to Mars, and have you live there without any form of environmental controlling devices. Since the climate on Earth has got nothing to do with you, I'm sure the ones on Mars won't have any effect on you either.

Like I said, we cannot just ignore the fact that there is something urgent at hand that needs to be done. And it's not like the problem can be solved by pouring your savings into the charity, or by telling your children to watch Live Earth on television. It is the kind of solution that requires much effort, the kind that needs to be integrated into your life one way or another, and have it accumulate to a result that is not instantaneous, but ultimately crucial to our everyday lives. A few less plastic cups used at the cafeteria, or a plastic bag saved at the mall. All these will accumulate one way or another to make this fight for Earth, a reality. It takes a lot of effort, perhaps more effort than donating huge sum of money to the third-world countries. But this is our generation we are talking about, this is the next generation, and the generation after that we are talking about. Nothing is certain about the effects of global warming and the likes, but what if it is true? Are we going to risk our species to be wiped out from the face of the Earth like the dinosaurs? We have a choice unlike those prehistoric reptiles, and we can do something about our extinction.

Live Earth is not a show, but perhaps a 'showing' of ideas, a presentation of a belief and hope that we can make a difference to the planet we are living on, the same one that we have perhaps taken for granted one way or another. I wonder if there has been any other single occasion in human history whereby mankind has been more aware of our planet's problem as compared to now. These artistes are coming together not to promote their albums, or to increase their publicity. But then again, so what if they ARE? They are doing what they can in this global crisis, and this is going to work one way or another. It doesn't matter if there are people calling them hypocrites, or if they are calling them pretentious. They are merely the vehicle of a message, a message that needs to be heard around the world through their music. So if cynicism inhabits your heart and mind in this concert, then you really do have serious issues to deal with. Because seriously, there is less harm than good in a concert like that, and infinitely more good than your cynicisms. What good are you doing, sitting there and sulking about what others are putting their mind and soul to? Absolutely - nothing.

I am sure that given enough time, anybody can find a hint of hypocrisy in everything. But like John Mayer said on his blog, just give this Live Earth thing as much benefit of a doubt as the iPhone or the new Radiohead album. Because that is all you need to spark off hope, and we are all going to need that as we turn on our televisions around the world, or have our tickets torn at the entrance to the concert venues tomorrow evening. There will be a great celebration around the world, and nothing is going to dampen the spirit of that at all.

The truth is, all we want in life is to know that life goes on one way or another, the same as how we believe that there is a life after death. I don't think humans - at least for me - want to know that life will be terminated one day, that it will not continue in a different space. We are not going to be happy if we die, knowing that the human race is doomed in the future of your death. And it's not like we can move all the people on Earth to a different planet either. The question of whether we are alone has been in debate for years. Truth to be told, either answers can be a scary one. Aliens may invade our planet, once found. That's scary. But if we are the only living planet in the vast universe that is expanding at the speed of light, that is a scary thought too.

So whatever the case may be, be it a destruction under laser guns by extra terrestrials, or the fact that we are merely a floating orb in the middle of the vast blackness. We shouldn't be the ones destroying our own planets, but rather the keeper of its beauty.

Live Earth may or may not work. It is a gamble that we are all taking, but the kind of gamble that is not going to be a fifty-fifty situation. There will be no losers in this game, only the winners and the ones who go home after breaking even. There is no harm in supporting the cause, and to believe that it will work. It will work, one way or another, and it starts by having you believing in it. So prepare that green t-shirt of yours at home, and invite a few friends over for a drink or two at 7pm tomorrow night. It is going to be a concert that will change human history somehow, and the start of the great revolution of our generation.

Now, all we need is Captain Planet and his Planeteers to make special appearance tomorrow. That'd be fun.