Al Gore Trades White House for 'Green' House

July 7, 2007 — -- Jackie Soloman couldn't hold back her excitement for possibly the biggest rock concert in history.

"I'm so excited!" she said. "This is the best thing ever!"

She came with her two friends -- by bus -- from New York's Long Island to East Rutherford, N.J., to catch what was billed to be the world's biggest music event ever -- Live Earth.

There was Madonna in London, The Police in New Jersey, even a group of scientists in Antarctica -- and a last minute Washington, D.C., concert featuring country music sensations Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

These fans say going green is more than a fad and a concert full of big names, it's a new way of life.

But not all fans are so quick to give up personal indulgences to save the planet.

"I came by bus to Live Earth because of the message ... but I don't usually take public transportation," Matt Nagle said. "It's just so inconvenient to take public transportation in daily life. I mean, it's hard taking a bus or train to the grocery store."

Live Earth's organizer, former Vice President Al Gore, hopes that a seven-step pledge and concerts featuring famous artists will address that "inconvenient truth" and encourage people to do all they can to be more eco-friendly.

Skeptics had worried that organizing such a massive production in nine venues spanning seven continents would leave a carbon footprint more lasting than the ecological message itself. But by mid-afternoon, the Giants Stadium parking lot in New Jersey was surprisingly clean, give or take a floating napkin or two.

However, there were some gas guzzling vehicles driving up to the show -- limousines, SUVs and oversized conversion vans.

Melissa Waters, who is gradually changing her lifestyle to embrace more earth-friendly habits, was disappointed by the some of the hypocrisy displayed at the show.

"It's unfortunate," she said. "We saw a limo come by and drop off only three people. They could at least car pool."

Waters then held up a bumper sticker advocating Al Gore to run for president.

"He would change the world," Waters said, as a plane overhead flew by with a banner encouraging New Yorkers to draft Gore for 2008.

After introducing the Washington show, Gore traveled by Amtrak to New Jersey to save fuel, and he showed up by hologram at the Tokyo show. Gore has said many times that he isn't making a White House run a part of his life any time soon, and instead is turning all of his energy to addressing global warming.

"We must disenthrall ourselves and then we will save our planet," Gore told the Washington crowd. "Ladies and gentleman, we are excited to share this historic day with some fantastic musicians who are also deeply committed to using their voices and their talents to raise awareness about the climate crisis and how to solve it."

Organizers went to great lengths to make the event itself eco-friendly. The stages were made of recycled materials, recycle bins lined the concert grounds, and anyone turning in 25 plastic soda bottles received a quite-trendy looking backpack made of recycled bottles, courtesy of Pepsi.

Despite all the efforts to make the concert "the biggest and best," some people are viewing it as just another benefit concert that will be like all of the others.

Could there be such a thing as benefit fatigue? From 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 tsunami, charitable rock events appear to be popping up every year. And some believe the trend ultimately is taking away from the messages.

"It's kind of like, 'Oh, another one of these concerts where a lot of famous rock stars trot out for a cause,'" said Evan Serpick, an associate editor at Rolling Stone. "It's lost it's novelty, for sure."

In fact, some of the acts have been known to practice some very non-eco-friendly habits, including private jets, huge homes without energy-saving lights and appliances, and poor waste management.

However, one Live Earth performer isn't standing for that type of double standard. KT Tunstall said there is no room for those who can't practice what they preach. Turnstall told ABC News that she is not only a performer, but an environmentalist.

"I don't have a car," she said. "We're installing sheepskin wool to insulate our very small flat and using solar panels to save energy."

Live Earth performers come here not only to teach, but to learn as well. Event coordinators stressed the need for artists to use biodeisel buses as their main mode of transportation to the concerts and on the road.

"It's not that hard to use biodiesel fuel in your tour bus," Turnstall said. "Our modern culture is just obsessed with consuming all of the time."