To compensate for George W. Bush

The world needs to know about the dangers inherent in global warming. To bring these issues to the attention of a global audience a series of climate change concerts is being planned for 7 July 2007. It is hoped that the worldwide concert link-up will bring the problem of climate change to an audience of some 2 billion across the world – a bigger event even than Live Aid. The event will show co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners taking part to extend public awareness of global warming. Former US vice-president Al Gore, whose movie An Inconvenient Truth has succeeded in bringing the importance of protecting the environment to cinema audiences everywhere, announced the event at a February 2007 press conference in London. The aim is that people will take action, including making personal pledges to save energy, and cutting emissions by, for instance, using energy efficient equipment or taking fewer flights.

According to a UN report, it is at least 90 per cent probable that human activities are the main cause of warming in the past 50 years. Whereas most industrial nations have signed up for the UN’s Kyoto Protocol (which imposed conditions on emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from factories, power plants and vehicles), US President George W. Bush pulled his country out of the treaty in 2001.

Jaap den Haan