Live Earth Concert - why?

There is no doubt that our planet is in crisis. We know that each one of us can play some part, however small in averting a planetary collapse (I know that sounds dramatic, but that's just how it is!).

A live concert on all seven continents is scheduled for July 7. The concerts will also be streamed online courtesy of MSN. These concerts will feature some of music's biggest names and has the purpose of creating awareness of the earth's plight among concert-goers.

Now forgive me for being sceptical here but I doubt whether anyone attending these concerts will do so because they lose sleep over the hole in the ozone layer. I am pretty certain that they will attend because it is going to be a great party with great music performed by their favourite stars.

To stage concerts of this magnitude takes enormous amounts of human resources and capital. Surely this could be put to better use - like providing entrepreneurs with venture capital for water sanitation projects or clean energy provision. Perhaps some of these resources could be put into education projects amongst the children and youth of all socio-economic brackets.

All the concerts are taking place in cities where, I would hazard a guess, most of the population is aware that we have an increasing problem with the health of the earth - we can thank Al Gore for that. I'm not convinced that the populations of these cities need a music concert to mobilise them into action.

I hope that I am wrong - I hope that these concerts will mobilise a huge wave of awareness and practical steps so that we can begin to put an end to our current global crisis. I do need to ask though - what benefits have we seen since Live 8? Are the wheels turning faster to bring an end to global poverty?

The South African event will take place at the Coca-Cola Dome in Northgate - tickets available from Computicket.