AUSTRALIA: Sydney gears up for near-sell out Live Earth music concert

Sydney will kick off the worldwide Live Earth rock music concert on Saturday (July 7) with near sell-out crowds. Approximately 42,000 tickets have been sold over the Internet and at ticket vendors, with fans eager to see well-known Australian bands such as Wolfmother and Missy Higgins, as well as the Hawaiian-born Jack Johnson. After a ten-year break from the international music scene New Zealand band Crowded House are also set to perform at the event. After Sydney, Live Earth moves to Tokyo, Johannesburg, London, New York and other cities with performances led by Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Madonna, The Police and Smashing Pumpkins. But organisers and the artists stress that Live Earth is not simply a music concert, that above all it is bringing people together to make a strong statement to halt climate change. Australian actress and singer Toni Collette, who will join her band Toni Collette and the Finish on stage at the concert, says it is not a time to be ignorant about climate change. "We need to make imminent changes, you know, the time is now, it's already affecting our planet and it'll only get worse," she said. The singer, who drives a hybrid car, recycles her household waste into garden compost and tries to be energy efficient, adds that individual efforts make a big difference. "The great thing about Live Earth is it's helping people to understand that they can make changes in their daily lives...they're pretty much small changes but they'll have a huge impact in the end," she said. Collette's debut vocals album, "Beautiful Awkward Pictures" released last year, includes the song 'Look Up', about climate change which Collette says is about remaining positive and not letting the knowledge of what could be very horrible get you down. The 34-year-old Australian was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000 for her acting in The Sixth Sense. On Wednesday (July 4) Sydney Live Earth organisers were gearing up for the concert, as final touches were made to the stage at Aussie Stadium. Sydney Live Earth organiser Mark Pope, said the concert is attempting to be as eco-friendly as possible, and aims to educate people about climate change. Like many other environmentalist groups such as The Climate Group and The Climate Institute, Greens political party senator Kerry Nettle is putting her support behind the Live Earth concert for its aim in raising awareness for the climate change. But she says it will be a challenge for organisers to motivate people to engage in action against climate change. "I think that's a big challenge for the organisers, is to try to find ways to ensure that people's level of action and engagement in the issue of global warming continues after the concert, and really encourage them to find some way to do that because I think that makes your participation in an event like this meaningful, if not only do you get to go along and hear some good bands, but then are feeling empowered to go out and take other action in your own life and also in seeking to raise awareness with other people and most particularly demanding action of the government," she said. Australia has the world's highest per-capita greenhouse gas emissions and has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, criticizing climate-change pact as too Europe-centric. Prime Minister John Howard has called for a "New Kyoto" that will not harm the country's oil, coal and gas exports and bring in developing nations, such as India and China.

ITN Source | July 12, 2007

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