I count campaign rocks beyond concert
As an official UK partner of Live Earth, I Count – the campaign of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition - will be part of world’s largest climate change event ever on July 7th. It is also gearing up to meet and greet the delivery of Live Earth’s ‘calls to action’ in the UK, which will be generated by the event and apply pressure on government.
Ashok Sinha, I Count Director said: “Live Earth is not just a great day for music. It’s a springboard for action. Through I Count we will give visibility to people’s personal actions to reduce their carbon footprint and call on political leaders of all parties to listen and act”.
“We are the generation that could be remembered for fixing climate chaos. But we can only do it if we all stand up and be counted. The next two years is a crucial window of opportunity for the world to sign a deal to stay below a 2 degree temperature increase – which will require the UK to deliver a minimum cut in greenhouse gas emissions of 80% by 2050.”
I Count is the UK’s largest campaign on climate change and is supported by nearly 60 UK organisations – including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Oxfam, People & Planet, Women’s Institute, Unison, RSPB, Tearfund and WWF-UK.
The I Count campaign was launched last year at a mass event attended by 25,000 people in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 4th November 2006. At Glastonbury 2007, I Count gained 70,000 new supporters from festival goers to organiser Michael Eavis and performers The Kaiser Chiefs. Individuals are encouraged to sign up to the campaign online at www.icount.org.uk.
Live Earth UK is part of a string of 24-hour, 8 concert, 7-continent concerts on 7/7/07 raising awareness on climate change. The huge multi event is being organised by Live Earth Founder and Executive Producer Kevin Wall (LIVE8 producer), and is co-chaired by former Vice President Al Gore, Oscar winner for his film ‘The Inconvenient Truth.’
The 24 hour succession of concerts will deliver the Live Earth Call to Action – a series of seven pledges that Live Earth will be asking people across the globe to make to combat the climate crisis. In addition to providing simple actions people can take in their daily lives, Live Earth will ask people to call for a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 by the developed countries (and at least a 50% reduction globally) via a comprehensive international treaty on global warming to be agreed by 2009.
More than two billion people will be brought together on July 7th 2007. Live Earth will stage concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Hamburg, and will feature more than 150 of the world’s best music acts – The Police, Genesis, Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Madonna with the latest headliners including Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson.
Live Earth will be the biggest climate change event ever, involving more than 6,000 satellite Live Earth events taking place in more than 100 nations around the world in its support. The names of people making commitments and signing the pledge through their computers or mobile phones on July 7th will be shown on the Live Earth web site, on the screens at the concerts, and on the global TV broadcasts.
The concerts will be broadcast on the BBC in the UK and on more than 120 networks around the world. Other organisations partnering with Live Earth UK are The Climate Group.