Live Earth in India to help boost solar energy

http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINDEL36218020080920

India will host the next Live Earth concert to raise funds for lighting homes with solar energy in places where people do not have access to electricity, organizers said.

The December event will see rocker Jon Bon Jovi and Bollywood's biggest superstar, Amitabh Bachchan share the stage, and is described by organizers as one of the biggest events held in India.

The concert will be held in India's financial capital Mumbai on December 7, Live Earth founder Kevin Wall said in Mumbai.

"(Former Vice President) Al Gore asked me whether we could do this in India, and I said yes," Wall told Reuters in Mumbai. "This is going to be huge."

"Jon Bon Jovi is just one name and Mr Bachchan is just one name, but there will be a lot of international artists," he said.

Wall, who organized a series of concerts last year with the former vice-president, said the event in India would be telecast live in more than 100 countries.

Gore, who spoke via satellite this week during a news conference held in Mumbai on Thursday said India could provide the leadership required to bring about changes in world policies on climate change.

The proceeds from the concert will go to the "Light A Billion Lives campaign," supported by Nobel Prize-winner Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the United Nation's Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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We can work around the world to mitigate the climate crisis. We must not be myopic in our view or distressed thinking that only one person sitting in a white house in Washington Dc can or will do it. This goes so far beyond just one president, one American election, one year, or one time. This crisis must make us see our similarities as humans on this Earth which is the only home we will have and act together.

While political will in Washington Dc is indeed a great part of that progress, it is not in my view something to place all hopes on. We can and must take it upon ourselves to do all in our power to bring solar energy and other alternate sources to other developing countries like India so that their economic progress will begin on a more sustainable footing, and hopefully that message will then spread around the globe including our own country. This is the good message Live Earth brings and the message we must take upon ourselves to spread to others. We are the ones with the power, and with that power we can do great things when mobilizing for a good and noble cause.