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NEW YORK - Pop stars, politicians and Hollywood celebrities drummed home the dangers of global warming Saturday in a series of Live Earth concerts spanning the globe and urging people to go green.
"You are Live Earth!" eco-crusader and former US vice president Al Gore told the world's viewers, which promoters hoped would top two billion via Internet and television for the events in nine major cities.
Star-studded concerts in New York and Rio de Janeiro were the last to get under way, after a day-long global music fest that kicked off in Sydney before moving to Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London and Washington.
Gore, via satellite, urged audiences at venues around the globe to take a seven-point green pledge to reduce their own "carbon footprints" on the planet and to lobby governments and industries to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.
"Our actions from this day forward will help determine just what sort of future we pass on to our children and to their children," said US film star Leonardo DiCaprio as he introduced Gore in New York.
"As we all face this together, we cannot afford to fail those future generations, or to fail ourselves. What once seemed like science-fiction is now an inconvenient, if undeniable, truth."
The Live Earth event faced a slew of organizational problems, however, and has taken fire from commentators, a minority of environmentalists and several influential pop stars.
In London, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and the Beastie boys played Wembley Stadium, which went dark for a symbolic few minutes at 10:00 pm, prior to Madonna, the final act in the nine-hour concert.
Recently reformed 1980s punk group the Police and rapper Kanye West performed at Giants Stadium outside New York City, along with country acts Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
Musicians and entertainers urged the crowds to pledge to take personal responsibility for more sustainable lifestyles.
"You know, sometimes, walking away from situations or old habits is a hard thing to do. But that's because it's the right thing to do," Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson of the Black Eyed Peas said in London.
"It's a concert of our generation," said Senegalese Fatou Salle, 25, at the New York concert. "I like what Al Gore is doing. He's changing things," she added.
However, critics pointed out that pollution caused by the concerts makes them part of the problem as well as the solution.
"Live Earth is a planet killer," read one poster in Washington.
Gore made his first appearance from Washington via satellite to the Sydney concert, the first to open at 0200 GMT Saturday on the auspicious 7/7/07 date.
"In America, we're big offenders" when it comes to global warming, said government worker Fran Majestic. A dozen Code Pink protesters chanted "No warming, no war, no more."
Gore took a train from Washington to New York, but some stars flew private jets to the venues and some corporate sponsors raised eyebrows.
US car group Chevrolet, which is advertising its new "green" hybrid 4X4, sponsored the Live Earth website and US-German automaker DaimlerChrysler was a sponsor at Hamburg.
There, Latinos Shakira and Enrique Iglesias braved the rain with US rapper Snoop Dogg.
The concert in Shanghai, which was only attended by about 2,700 people, was seen as key in the drive to raise awareness about climate change, with China already or soon-to-become the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.
"I think these kinds of concerts can really help make people, especially young people, more aware about environmental protection," said college graduate Sun Jie, who added she was attempting to do her part at home.
The Johannesburg event was almost sold out, with the South African Grammy award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir, Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo, British diva Joss Stone and the reggae group UB40.
In Rio, 400,000 people girated to Live Earth music by Lenny Kravitz, Xuxa and Pharrell Williams on Copacabana beach with the giant Christ the Redeemer, named Saturday as one of the new wonders of the world, in the background.
Organizers fielded criticism of Live Earth by saying the concerts are aimed at raising awareness and are just the start of a three-year campaign.
Steve Howard, the founder of the "We're In This Together" environmental campaign, conceded: "Yes, there has been some pollution caused by flying people in."
"But that's what we needed to do -- it was a calculated investment."
The concerts, many powered with renewable energy and featuring recyclable stages, were carried by 120 television networks around the world and streamed live on the Internet.
By 0200 GMT some 150,000 persons had pledged to decrease their use of fossil fuels, according to the Live Earth website.
At the London venue, all burger boxes were made of biodegradable reed and sugar-cane pulp, and all cooking oil from concession stands was to be converted into biodiesel fuel.
Live Earth featured some 7,000 events in 129 countries, with a smaller concert staged in the Japanese city of Kyoto and an unusual performance by scientists-cum-rockers Nunatak in Antarctica, where temperatures have risen by nearly three degrees Celsius in the last 50 years. - AFP/ls/ir
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