And Now, Idiots

"We Are The World" strikes again:

GENEVA — British rock group Duran Duran and heavy metal band Scorpions are among 55 world celebrities who have joined in recording a song to draw attention to the global warming crisis, organisers said on Monday.

The song is part of a mass media campaign on the threats of climate change organised by the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, headed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

The song entitled "Beds'r Burning", which was originally recorded by the Australian group Midnight Oil in the 1980s, can be downloaded from the Internet for free and will be presented to the public at a launch in Paris on October 1.

"If we do not stop the (greenhouse gas) emissions today, global warming will be still be with us in 40 to 50 years," warned Walter Fust, director of the Forum, at a press conference in Geneva.

The media campaign featuring the song is aimed at putting pressure on world leaders to reach an agreement on tackling climate change at a UN-sponsored conference in Copenhagen in December.

Some of the other popular artists who add their voices to the anti-global warming song include French 'Piaf' actress Marion Cotillard, Senegalese star Youssou N'dour, Irish singer/composer Bob Geldorf, Chinese singer Khalil Fong, and even a Nobel peace laureate, South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.

I don't think I'm inching very far out on to the limb here when I suggest that celebrity rockers, together with the sort of people who attend international forums and UN-sponsored conferences, generate carbon footprints a whoooooooole lot bigger than those of the ordinary folks they're hectoring with their publicity stunts.

When Duran Duran goes to all-acoustic performances in daylight in non-HVAC-controlled concert sites, then maybe they can come and talk to me about what kind of lightbulbs I'm using.

Until then, they can jolly well bugger off.