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LIVE EARTH ROCKS THE WORLD

Metallica, Madonna, Shakira and the Black Eyed Peas were among the 150 acts who performed at the 24-hour musical extravaganza Live Earth on this day in 2007. It was broadcast to more than 130 countries from stages in 12 locations around the globe. In addition to uniting some of the world’s top pop stars, the show incorporated the Morse code distress signal in its logo and urged audiences to fight climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent in developed countries by 2050. The event was cofounded by former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, whose documentary An Inconvenient Truth had come out a year earlier. On the eve of the concert, Gore told The Globe and Mail, “Future generations are going to be quite contemptuous of those of us who are now alive if we don’t act now.” The concert was criticized, however, for its large carbon footprint. Entertainer Chris Rock joked at the time, “I hope that Live Earth ends global warming the same way Live Aid eliminated world poverty.” Fifteen years later, with its goal nowhere close to being reached, Rock’s words seem prophetic.

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2022-07-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-07T07:00:00.0000000Z

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