Sting and celebrity 'green hypocrisy'

[thedaner]

Not sure if anyone's been over to stingus.net lately, but there's a link to an interesting interview with Sting about his latest efforts in the Brazilian rainforest (he reunited with Raoni recently). This reporter takes him to task about how Sting is so environmental but has left quite the carbon footprint over the course of his touring years, especially with owning homes all over the world and taking around a huge entourage with him.

Watch Sting squirm as the reporter slowly fries him. Then El Gordo lets out (more than once) the nervous laugh that can only mean one thing: I don't have a solid answer for this and I'm pissed for being nailed to the wall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/n ... 390682.stm

[vespapod]

600 acres in Tuscany...800 acres in England...sixteen room Penthouse in NYC...this guys' got a carbon footprint bigger than fuckin Rhode Island..

what is this shit about Brazil...if they want to industrialize their nation, so be it...us here in the USA certainly raped our own backyard through the centuries....Im tired of these fuckin do-gooders worried about the rainforest....grow some goddamn trees in your own backyard then...add some bunnies to make it cute and a squirrel or two..Brazil is their own nation..leave it the fuck alone and worry about shit happening in the USA....

God Bless our WW2 vets today...Pearl Harbor was attacked 68 years ago!!

[Chatchka]

I have to admit that I did, a little, enjoy seeing an interviewer that wasn't sucking up to him the whole time.

Separately, I wonder if Trudy was counting us in the 750 ppl that were trailing them around the world on tour.

[policerule]

Whoa. Called him out!

Buy up the land Stingo!

[dufmanno]

Because I'm so weird I have a hard time watching people get put on the spot like that. My skin began to crawl watching the obvious discomfort. The guy asked perfectly valid questions so I suppose it's not that big of a deal. He does need to break out the Grecian Formula again and give his caveman beard a comb through. Don't get me wrong, I like the mountain man "you tarzan , me jane" thing as much as the next girl but he's crossing over into unibomber territory.

[TOWOS]

"No comment"...

[sockii]

OK, I seriously lol'ed watching that and appreciated the interviewer bringing up the hard questions.

You can be a "voice" all you want for a campaign-but are you willing to put your money behind it? And gong knows Stingo ain't short on that. So why not answer that yes, you're willing to pay higher taxes to support saving the rainforest? Yes, you're willing to buy land to have it preserved, or donate to a land conservation program? Yes, you're willing to donate funds to the cause instead of putting the financial burden on the poor who are just doing what they have to, to survive. Don't laugh these things off uncomfortably and just say "well I'm not an economist" - then maybe you shouldn't be on television as some kind of so-called "expert" talking about an issue in the first place.

[smudge]

If he made music like he spoke to Jeremy Paxman, I'd still buy his records. There is a huge contradiction between the lifestyle of Sting and the cause he espouses. He obviously knows that, yet he willingly exposes himself to the most feared political interviewer on the BBC. He doesn't claim to be an expert, he probably knows the experience will be uncomfortable and the press fall-out less than helpful to his career, but he speaks out anyway. He's right. Here in the UK we'd never have heard about the damn dam if Sting hadn't been involved. He may not be right on the issue (personally I think he is - but what do I know?), but he's raised the issue. Again. He IS right about the intensive farming in the Amazon basin. A fraction of that is feeding people locally - the rest is export.

And he's bang on the money about the 'celebrity' carbon footprint thing. That's nickel and dime stuff - a reasonable question to ask, but until everyone who flies/drives/catches a train to something as carbon-unnecessary as a gig agrees that they won't do that again, lay off the muso.

Cripes. I just went on a pro-Sting rant. Not directed at any of you fine folks. If anyone has Paxman's email, I'll send it there....

[Jose]

I think Sting's support to rainforest native communities is not such a "Green Hypocresy"... Everybody have the way of living they wants... in some level or less or perhaps hate it... the real thing is that all the main laws in Planet Earth were and are designed to defends economical interests, more of its born in the upper level of economical and political system of western society for surviving and developing... If you see it from the First World balcony perhaps more of you thinks how bastards they are and some of you feels so bad, but economic power in western societies not only includes Europe, USA, Canada, Japan or Australia, also includes lot of governments from the considered "Third World" in most parts of Latin America... If you see that system also covered and defends the economical interests in such poor countries... I mean great, rich and invaluable natural resources on those "poor" territories, lot of those "Poor" countries sold the rights to the main abroad companies that invested million or billion of dollars or euros to overexplote that resources they don't have, the result is that these new investments on those third world countries injected the economy for growing in numbers and statistics, with economical benefits on a tiny or medium local western society located on those countries -thats why I typed this post on a lap top and used internet, but on the other hand the native or rural communities have a different view or vision about world... their world is living in harmmony with nature, thanks mother earth about what it produces on agricultural or natural resources, a main percentage of them respect the environment or thinks that is more valuable pure water than a bill of 22 million of dollars a mining company could give them for overexploting their territories... the rainforests aboriginal communities are the last guardians of the rainforest...you know Amazon Rainforest is not only a buck of trees or monkeys and a long river...it means live, it means rich in resources for the future of the world ... If I think Peru or Brazil government (that are only 2 of about 8 or 9 countries in South America that have relation with the Rainforest) have the right of doing waht they want with their rainforest without the opinion of the native nations or communities that lives in the Rainforest is like they dont respect their mission to defends elemmentary needs of the whole nation... Rainforest Native communities plays an important role in the balance of what Planet Earth needs to survive with the main gifts that God left to us... some trees in my backyard or your backyard wont resolve the problem of pollution or environmental change... We need to learn about what and why those native comunitives loves their way of living and these only a thing of respect each and other... if we decided to driving cars, buy in malls lives in great castles with hundred of land is our decission, if on those group of people exist the ones who understand and support what the natives communities fight or defends is also their option, thats also respect thats also love

[sockii]

FWIW, I don't own a car. I won't own a car until it become an absolute necessity in moving out of a big city. (And I know there's environmental wank over the whole phenomenon of the "suburbs" here in the U.S. ... I consider it a necessarily evil to an extent, but you sure won't see me in a gas-guzzling SUV anytime in this lifetime.)

I take public transportation as much as is feasible (or walk when even more feasible).

Of all the concerts I've gone to in the past 2-3 years, I can very easily count the ones I went to in a car to on one hand. Everywhere else? Either public transit or at the very least, shared rides with as many as could cram in a car as possible. We all have some kind of carbon footprint, undeniably. But I don't think the blame can be solely laid at the feet of big corporations when many individuals, famous to not, are blithe about what they are responsible for. It's the same way I feel about things like sustainable/organic/free-range farming: I know I can't always eat as purely as I wish unless I prepared every meal myself and probably, at least, tripled my food bills. But where I have the choice and economic means to do so, I put my money where my mouth is and support sustainable crops, farming, and fishing.

[smudge]

[quote="sockii"][/quote]

Yup. What she said. Right down to the 'affordable/local' produce dilemma. (And just to reiterate - I really WAS NOT having a pop at anyone here. In the 'he who is without sin' test on carbon footprint, someone should be lobbing an Airbus at me, not stones.)

[shyvixen]

For a second there I thought this was about Sting being bothered by The Flag on Tourzilla.

Sheesh dude, that was like a year and a half ago - move on with your life!

[vespapod]

I do not think it matters what little we tiny munchkins do to help with this carbon crap AlGore shit selling the media is hyping to us....we waste and waste and waste and it aint stoppin ( I am the perpetual pessimist) The only way to completely reverse this is to live like the Amish..that means no computers, no cell phones, no DVD, no sc.net...no Rock..no stingo..no stewart..nothing but simple clean farm living....you all want that??? Buying range free eggs, taking public transport is one baked bean in the entire can of the earth... in other words....WE ARE ALL FUCKED....enjoy life NOW..
probably in 50 to 100 years new ideas will be brought to the table., perhaps a huge "Carbon cleaner" will be developed or a clean running car OR the earth will begin a demise which will cause massive death and reductions in the world population to a more sustainable level and we start over again....thats how nature intended it...WE as humans fucked up the earth...its time the earth is fuckin us back and you aint gonna stop it by reducing your footprint or supporting Starbucks horseshit....Its a balancing act.

Merry Christmas!!

[Chatchka]

Shy, You just provided me with a great belly laugh. Thank you!

I just watched the clip again. While I appreciate that he does try to ameliorate his carbon footprint and to lift his voice to help others, his delivery on the comment about the tax issues being something for the economists to sort out smacks a little of Marie Antoinette. Ultimately, he can't win in the public eye, can he? No matter how he tries to help, he meets criticism. That has just got to be frustrating and yet he continues to try to help. I'll give him props for persistence and bravery.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

FWIW (and I say this in a friendly way, respectful of the fact that we all have the right to our opinions), the Amazon rain forest is a huge sort of carbon filter for CO2. If it's gone, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere - already dangerously high - skyrockets. I'll agree countries have the right to do what they want, but there are some things that do affect us all.

Having been lucky enough to have visited the Amazon, I think most people in North America have absolutely zero idea how poor a lot of the people are who live there. I'm talking about living in huts, no indoor plumbing. This is true of ginormous tracts of the world - just about everywhere that isn't the U.S. or Europe. It's a really intractable problem and we're not going to solve it by scolding the likes of India and China, who are just trying to bring their own literally billions of poverty-level residents to some quality of life approaching that which we enjoy in the West. Of course people are doing what they need to, to survive - a huge percentage of deforestation is taking place b/c people are cutting down trees, burning them, and selling them for charcoal. I'm told the officials in charge of policing this turn up dead with regular frequency. (Frankly, I saw the longline fishing boats in Galapagos for myself - another horrible story, oceanic degradation.)

Personally, I think the solution is giving money to outfits like the Overpopulation Institute - we have too many damned people on this planet. (Unfortunately it's hard to discuss birth control or other hard facts with people without them getting all righteous on you. Sometimes I feel like we're gonna wind up with the planet we deserve, with so many people irrationally resistant to doing what we need to.)

The U.S. sets a horrible example, also. Not only through everybody driving these guzzling vehicles and living in McMansions, but the fact that there's this mindset that folks have to have the newest and greatest (fill in the blank) every year. What an insane amount of waste. It's really the downside of the individualist mentality that people here have - sure, it's great to live here in many ways, but IMO we fall down - way down - when thinking about the needs of others and trying to live in some kind of community. Do we really have the right to lecture others when we can't even get our crap together on health care for our own people, our birth mortality rate is the worst in the industrial world, we have the highest percentage of our residents in prison, etc.

I have a horrible carbon footprint too - I do what I can, driving a hybrid, paying for recycling pickup, buying used stuff, composting, using Freecycle - but in some ways our officials have let us down by, among other things, not planning for and building the kind of transportation infrastructure common in other parts of the world. If I wanted to take a train somewhere, I couldn't do it - the nearest passenger rail line is 200 miles away.

Unfortunately I guess I'm also of the 'live it up' mindset, some of the time. It just seems like we're not going to be able to fix this problem, with all of our elected representatives bought and sold by huge corporations and ignoring the needs of people and communities.

I thought Sting did pretty well and that this interviewer was of the 'attack journalism' mindset that tends to boost ratings and isn't a sincere attempt to discuss an issue. The Brits have the same problem with Fox News-type distortion and misinformation that's rampant over here, unfortunately.

I haven't had a chance to discuss this in the other climate change thread posted recently, but there's a huge PR blitz being put out by these same giant corporations to deceive people so they can keep up their wastrel ways. Got a few things to do this month but I'll try to post a few factoids I've read on the situation later.

I love you all - let's try to keep things in hand - xo Dive