But to be fair, Gore has signed up for 100-percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy-saving technology in his home.

Buckley also excoriates Gore’s recruits, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for their inattention to the health of the planet. “The Red Hot Chili Peppers produced 220 tons of CO2 with their private jet alone over six months on their last world tour, which was 42 dates.”

“It’s great for the celebrities to come out and support the cause, but they then have to follow it up in their own lifestyles,” Buckley added. “We should now keep a close eye on whether Madonna and the others makes any changes to their own lifestyle.”

Perhaps they should take a tip from John Mayer, the Live Earth participant who has unapologetically proposed a less radical approach to the Climate Crisis, something he calls Light Green, perfect for the man who regaled us with the song “Another Kind of Green,” back in 2005. “It seems to me that when it comes to this issue, we’ve been given only two sides to pick from: Side one says the future of global warming does not present a doomsday scenario, almost chucking the matter aside. Side two says it is a dire issue, which it is, and then goes on to inundate side one with so many separate nakedly scientific points that they make naiveté seem cozy by comparison.

“So here I am, introducing a third side. A laid-back, panic-free approach to environmentalism. One that believes the message of An Inconvenient Truth is sound, but that it’s an incredibly un-fun name for a movie. A side free from the cry of hypocrisy, for it doesn’t make sweeping promises. A side that drives an SUV on the way to the grocery store but then produces nylon mesh bags at the checkout line. A side that believes in bringing a change of perspective to our government, but letting Karl Rove finish his meal first. [A reference to Sheryl Crow’s infamous ambush of Rove at a Washington dinner this Spring, where the official hissed at her, ‘Don’t touch me.’] Ladies and gentlemen, fans and friends, I submit to you a third way: Light Green.

“No thinking about ‘offsetting your carbon footprint.’ No rallies. No browbeating people who think the Earth just has a fever. Pick one thing to change this year, and keep the rest of your life the same. … And to anybody ready to cut me down for this, here’s my full disclosure: I drive a Porsche SUV, I still drink lots of bottled water, and I will be flying private charter several times during my summer tour. However, my bus has been converted to Bio-Diesel, and I’ll be coming up with even more ways to adapt to the Light Green mentality before I set out for the summer.”

So two months into it, what is he really doing in his effort to get Light Green off the ground besides becoming one of the headliners at Giants Stadium for the U.S. portion of Live Earth’s seven-continent concerts? “I’m switching to more efficient light bulbs. I plug all my chargers into one surge protector and then I unplug it from the wall,” says the musician on the phone from an apartment in Manhattan, where he is forced to use the air conditioning on a steamy spring afternoon. “I know, I know, I’ll turn it down when I get off the phone,” he laughs.

But Mayer refuses to be ashamed of his stance—which is strangely refreshing, and so unlike his superstar brethren, who often will don the common-man garb like a dirty pair of black-denim work pants and lyrically sympathize with the plight of the downtrodden, cannibalizing on their pain to sell more units. Mayer may be full of bombast, but he’s as pragmatic as he is candid.

“When you make a lot of money and you jet around the world, like I do—I’m in the top tax bracket, and most of my problems have been eliminated by money. And what happens when most of your problems are eliminated by money? Of course you still have to have problems. The human condition still has to focus on some kind of a struggle. Global warming has, in the last six months, become the problem that plagues you once you have no other problem. Just because I make a lot of money a year, and I can book a jet, fly and go see The Police play and fly back if I want to, doesn’t give me a right to forget about the infinitely more people who still have to worry about problems that really impact them. Even if you tell somebody, ‘If we keep going this direction we may lose all the polar bears in 10 years,’ what’s happening when people are reading that? They’re saying, ‘If I don’t get my shit together in my life, I may lose my job in the next two months.’ How much do you think they care about global warming then?”

So how much does Mayer care? Enough to dine quite often with Laurie David (the producer of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and wife of comedian Larry David), who has argued with Mayer over his views, and dragged him to hear leading environmentalists speak. “She is very forceful,” he laughs. So forceful she insisted that he come on board for the Giants Stadium concert.

A few disgruntled stars are also making themselves heard. Those who didn’t get asked have been rather vocal about their exclusion. Last January, KT Tunstall lamented, “I’m trying to find out why I’m not on the list. It’s not as if I’d be busy off-roading in my Range Rover.” After finding out how much Tunstall wanted to be on the bill, the former vice president had someone extend an invitation. The winsome singer who wrote the haunting “Under the Weather” after 9/11 has been since added to the Wembley Show, and she certainly fits the profile of their dream participant.

“I’ve been involved with something like Live Earth before,” she says. “I played in Trafalgar Square in London at Stop Climate Chaos’ iCount rally. It was a brilliant day, apart from the fact that I attempted to sit on a chair that wasn’t actually there and fell on my arse in front of Razorlight.” In addition, Tunstall does her best to limit her use of electricity, especially her blow dryer. “Clean hair is very overrated. It’s just not rock, either,” she laughs.

James Blunt, who will also be on the bill in London, has firm opinions on what a musician can or should do. “It’s not an artist’s responsibility to make the world a better place,” explains the former British soldier. “They should only do so if they believe in something. Something like climate change is different, though. All of us are responsible for the damage we are causing to planet Earth, and so we must all take responsibility to reverse this damage.”

Dave Matthews is just happy that the Live Earth show is giving everyone a chance to think globally, and sees it more as a catalyst than a doomsday prophecy. “Thomas Jefferson said that the world requires a revolution every 20 years, and I agree,” says the musician from his Seattle home, where he’s just finished a bike ride. “How is that for conserving energy?” he asks. “But then you have to buy a bike helmet and then you’re back to square one. …

“Any time I can be involved in some way, where people can have a common voice, I am gratified. Although there may be people there because they want to be seen, it doesn’t matter why you do things for other people for the general good, as long as you do them. Whether it’s so you can look like an angel or because you can’t help yourself doesn’t matter.

“But I think just as many people as stand up and say, ‘We need to work together,’ then [there’s] the possibility of more people standing up and saying, ‘We need to work together’ the next time. And so, for me, that’s the biggest thing—to have the voice of the people—I mean us, made louder, so that the voices of the machine, whether you call it corporatism or the military complex, people as pawns or people as tools. I think we as people have to stand up and—again and again—say something. Say anything. We need to wake those things up all the time, the idea of turning over and looking again at what we’ve become. Live Earth gives us that opportunity."

For more information, visit LiveEarth.org.