Live Earth – Rolling Stone June? 2007
Q: Why did you want to play Live Earth?
A: I saw Al’s film and I thought it was very impressive, very compelling viewing. I’ve since done a bit of research, and at least 95% of informed opinion think he’s right. Anything that brings attention to this problem for our children and grandchildren is a good thing.
Q: Have you changed anything in your daily life as a result of the climate crisis?
A: So far, very little. I find myself going to turn the lights off where I wouldn’t have before, not to save the few cents but because it seems like a good thing to do. And I drink warm beer, obviously, which helps.
Q: Pink Floyd’s reunion was the highlight of Live 8. How will playing solo at Live Earth compare?
A: It will be different playing with Dave and Nick and Rick was very special for me, and from the stage it was quite clear that it was a special moment for everyone. It will lack that. But I don’t mean to belittle my current band – they’re great
Q: Which songs are especially relevant for this event?
A: I’m going to do shortened versions of a number of songs at this thing: “Money,” because it seems that the love of money and power still drives global politics. And I’ll do “Us and Them” – the unseemly scrabble of world politics toward national and personal self-interest needs to be set aside if we’re going to cooperate with each other to solve this crisis that faces us all.
Q: What needs to be done, politically, to solve it?
A: IT would help if we could divert some of our resources away from blowing each other to bits and toward think tanks. Something has gone wrong with the democratic process when you can get idiots rising to offices of extreme power, like the presidency of the USA. George Bush – you could not make a worse choice in someone to lead the most powerful nation in the free world.
Q: What is the best thing Live Earth can accomplish?
A: If it hadn’t been for Al Gore pounding on his lectern all these years, attempting to explain to us that this is a very real problem and giving us all the statistics, we might be blithely going on, trying to get everyone in the world to drive a Humvee. This is one more step in the process, to educate us and to encourage cooperation to deal with this problem, which could kill the whole human race.