Live Earth and Global Warming

Virtual Thinkers

Global Warming

Global Warming is the rise in temperature of the earth caused by gases such as water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Main causes

One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, also called CO2. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2.

Effects (Present)

Some impacts from increasing temperatures are already happening:

Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.

Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.

Sea level rise became faster over the last century. Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.

Effects (Near future)

Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues:

Sea levels are expected to rise between 18 and 59 centimeter) by the end of the century.

Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.

Species that depend on one another may become out of sync.

Floods and droughts will become more common.

Less fresh water will be available. Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.

Ecosystems will change—some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct.

Solutions Evidence that humans are causing global

warming is strong, but the question of what to do about it remains controversial.

There is no single solution to global warming; in fact many simple changes in our lifestyle can save our planet and the future generations. Simple changes can

make the difference!

Do not leave appliances on standbyTake a shower instead of a bath

Use less hot waterUse a clothesline instead of a dryer

whenever possibleBe sure you’re separating your home

trashReuse your shopping bags

Reduce wastePlant a tree

Seek out and support local farmers markets

Eat less meatReduce the number of miles you use

the car as a mean of transportGo to school on foot or by bike.

Protect and conserve forest worldwideMake sure your voice is heard!

Live Earth was founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former Vice President Al Gore. It was built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to bring the world community to action. A for-profit company, Live Earth seeks to leverage the power of entertainment through integrated events, media and the live experience to awaken a global movement aimed at solving the most critical environmental issues of our times.

It was an 24 hours event of music concerts held on 7 July 2007 in eight countries in seven continents, with the goal of raising public awareness for global warming.

Live Earth brought together 150 music artists and some 2 billion people conducted several concerts in all 6 continents of the world with 9 participating cities. It Had the support of companies like MSN, Smart and Pepsi.

7-07-2007

Live Earth was a monumental music event that brought together a global audience on July 7, 2007 to combat the climate crisis. Live Earth staged concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg- as well as special broadcast events in Antarctica, Kyoto and Washington, DC - and featured feature more than 150 of the world's best music acts - a mix of both legendary music acts like The Police, Genesis, Bon Jovi and Madonna with the latest headliners like Kanye West, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson.

The Dow Live Earth Run for Water took place April 18, 2010 and consisted of a series of 6 km run/walks taking place over the course of 24 hours in countries around the world, featuring concerts and water education activities aimed at igniting a tipping point to help solve the water crisis. Jessica Biel, Alexandra Cousteau, Pete Wentz, Angélique Kidjo and Jenny Fletcher were due to lend their names and their time in support.

The song of Madonna

Madonna and the producer Pharrell Williams wrote the song "Hey You" especially for the collection of Live Earth. Microsoft has agreed to donate 25 cents for Alliance for Climate protectio for every free download of the song. Madonna performed "Hey You" live at Wembley Stadium during London's Live Earth concert.

Impact of Live Earth After the concert Live Earth, the British media and Americans point out the

contradiction between the message and the acts of the rock stars that throughout the world, through music, they did get the message that we need to save the planet. Madonna, for example, is responsible for a share of carbon dioxide emissions a hundred times greater than the average share of a British citizen. The representatives of Madonna defend themselves: "Your participation in Live Earth is a step forward in the approach she wants to do the environmental cause."

Al Gore Al Gore was born on the 31st of March, 1948, in Washington, D.C.. Curiously, in his 2000 presidential campaign, Gore won the popular vote, but eventually conceded defeat to Republican George W. Bush. In 1971, he worked as a reporter at the Tennessean. In 1988, Gore made a bid for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. In 1992, the presidential candidate Bill Clinton  chose him as his running mate. They were elected into office that year and re-elected in 1996. During his tenure, he worked to cut back on government bureaucracy.

On the December 10th, 2007, Gore accepted a Nobel Prize for work on global warming. In accepting the prize, he urged the world's biggest carbon emitters, China and the U.S., to “make the boldest moves on climate change”. Gore shared the prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for sounding the alarm over global warming and spreading awareness on how to counteract it.

We have a planetary

emergency. We have to find a way to create,

in the generation of those alive

today, a sense of generational

mission.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim Produced by Lawrence Bender Witten by Al Gore Starring Al Gore Music by Michael Brook Editting by Jay Cassidy Distrubuted by Paramount

Classics Release date 24th May, 2006 Running time 94 minutes Language English

Synopsisaninconvenienttruth

An Inconvenient Truth focuses on Al Gore and on his travels in support of his efforts to educate the public about the climate crisis. He opens the film introducing himself as the man who used to be the next president of the USA. Then, he begins his slide show on climate change; a comprehensive presentation replete with detailed graphs and pictures. Following this, Gore also shares the moments of his life that led to his investigation towards Global Warming, as his sister's death from lung cancer and his young son's near-fatal car accident. He also refers to his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 United States presidential election as a “hard blow” that “brought into clear focus, the mission [he] had been pursuing for all these years”. Throughout the movie, Gore discusses the scientific opinion on climate change, as well as the present and future effects of global warming. The documentary ends with Gore arguing that if appropriate actions are taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed. Global Warming is, in fact, an inconvenient truth.

Global WarmingAn Inconvenient Truth

The film includes segments intended to refute critics who say that global warming is unproven or that warming will be insignificant. For example, Gore discusses the possibility of the collapse of a major ice sheet in Greenland or in West Antarctica, either of which could raise global sea levels, flooding coastal areas and producing 100 million refugees. It also contains various short animated projections of what could happen to different animals more vulnerable to climate change.

Since its release in 2005, the film has helped to galvanize governments, leaders, organizations and individuals worldwide to take action on global warming. More than a billion people are now aware of the issue and have been motivated to act. This movie won 2 Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song.“Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that

with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive; we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to have the

determination to make it happen.”Al Gore

References

Texts: SLIDE 2 - Global Warming. (2003) Retrieved on the 5th January 2013:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/global-warming-environment/global-warming-101/

SLIDE 13 - Al Gore (2004) Retrieved on the 3th January 2013: http://www.algore.com/about.html

SLIDE 13 - Bio. true story (2013) Retrieved on the 4th January 2013: Http://www.biography.com/people/al-gore-9316028

SLIDE 2 to 7 - National Geographic. (2007) Retrieved on the 7th January 20013:http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/

SLIDE 8 to 12 - Live Earth. (2010) Retrieved on the 5th January 2013: http://liveearth.org/

SLIDE 5 AND 6 - GONÇALVES, Maria Emília and TORRES, Angelina (2011). “What is global warming?”. Log in 11.

Images: http://meerkat21.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/global-warming-2.jpg http://blog.guerillapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Al_Gore_sayin_in.jpg http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/live-earth.jpg http://www.climatechangejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/globe-in-hands.jpg

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