I am pleased that there is now a growing awarness and recognition in Canada and around the world that our globe is in the midst of an environmental crisis.
Scientists have been trying to get the politician's and our attention for years.Finally their message seems to be sinking in. While I believe that some of the projected doomsday scenerios are overdone, the fact remains that people around the world will need to start changing the way they live and consume. There is no doubt, that this will be a very difficult challenge, considering the potential negative effects on our industrialized economies.Will people be prepared to make the necessary life style changes and pay a price in real economic terms to start reversing the environmental damage already inflicted on our planet?
We are all aware that clean air, water and food sources without poisons are essential elements to sustain human life. We have already compromised air, water and food quality in many areas of this continent. It seems to me that these shortcomings are the direct results of our collective actions of operating environmentally unfriendly factories and farms that produce consumer goods and food. In order to produce the goods and grow the food at affordable prices for the consumers, massive amounts of energy had to be produced and became part of the economic equation. Unfotunately domestic and foreign oil was cheap for many years and as a result this energy source became the major energy drug and polluter for industrialized countries, with all the negative side effects.
Since I already try to live as "green" as I can, I doubt whether my recently purchased expensive light bulb, a donation to a rock concert or my thermostat setting will have a big impact on the world's climate. However, I wonder if it would have been a good idea by the LIVE EARTH organizers to draw attention to some of the following human environmentally damaging activities:

Millions of passengers travel for pleasure and business in hundreds of thousands of polluting jet aircraft.
Millions of people drive gas guzzling and polluting automobiles/trucks to drive to and from work to earn a living.
Millions of factories manufacture goods which include poisonous substances for our use and consumption.
Millions of tons of packaging materials and containers are produced by factories to help us get the products home for consumption.
Millions of tons of pesticides are sprayed on food growing fields by factory and family farms.
Millions of tons of growth hormones are fed to animals which are ultimately consumed by the people.
I have learned a long time ago that we can only change what we can control. Since I have little control over the above activities, I'll continue to do my best to keep my own little world environmentally safe and sound; after all, I am not a producer of jet planes, automobiles or harmful chemicals. I am only a consumer.

Al Gore would be wise to re-focus his message about global warming to the real culprits and stop acting like he is the only environmental Messiah on this earth.