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The sun was shining; the bands were good -- well, some of them -- and the summer had arrived at last. Tennis players fought it out at Wimbledon and cyclists raced down the Mall in the Tour de France. But as the crowd inside Wembley Stadium for the London Live Earth concert was joined by two billion viewers around the world, other things were happening yesterday too.
Live Earth took place on seven continents, over 24 hours. During that time five million people travelled by plane -- and nearly 5,000 people died as a result of air pollution. More than 83 million barrels of oil were consumed -- and the Antarctic lost a kilometre from its melting ice shelf. The population of the world increased by 211,000 -- and the forests of the world decreased by 20,000 hectares.
All this happens every day -- symptoms of the global crisis that Live Earth hopes to help to stop. And the true picture is even worse than we fear.
Startling new research shows that humanity is pushing the Earth to breaking point by devouring the life-support systems that make it habitable. Even before the feared climate change really begins the bite, the planet is already under intolerable strain. An unprecedented study by top ecologists and climatologists, to be published by the US National Academy of Sciences, shows that a quarter of all plant life in the world is being destroyed each year by the demands of just one species: homo sapiens.
"That is mind-boggling," said Kevin Wall, co-founder and producer of the Live Earth shows which started in Sydney, Australia, at 2 am British time on Saturday and ended in Rio de Janeiro early Sunday morning. "It is part of the challenge we face, which is so overwhelming that people tend to go along with their lives in the same way, because it's invisible moment by moment."
Live Earth hoped to beat that inertia by challenging members of its unprecedented global audience to reduce their own carbon emissions and campaign for serious political action. "The Earth is a blue ball covered with a very thin layer of lacquer, within which the air, water and living beings exist," said the former US presidential candidate Al Gore, who also put the concerts together. "This fragile layer is all we have. It is our only home -- and we owe it to our children and our children's children to protect it."
But the new research in 161 countries -- the most extensive study ever made into humanity's impact on the planet's production of life, powered by the Sun -- shows that the Earth is already in serious trouble. In some parts of the world humans are using up far more than 25 percent of plant life for food, fuel and other needs. In Western Europe we gobble up 40 percent of the earth's natural bounty, in Eastern Europe 52 percent, and in India a staggering 63 percent. About half of this is accounted for by growing crops and another 40 percent in forestry and grazing domesticated animals.
"This is a remarkable impact on the biosphere caused by just one species," said the German government's chief adviser on climate change. The US Academy's study, actually carried out at Austria's Klagenfurt University and Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, is backed by some of the world's most distinguished experts. Dr Nathan Moore of Michigan State University called the results "alarming". Professor Christopher Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, said: "With millions of species sharing the leftovers, it is hard to know how many will be squeezed out of the game."
Global warming will place even greater strain on the natural world, the survey says. But it also warns that one of the main measures proposed to combat climate change -- growing extra crops for to make biofuels -- places " massive additional pressures on ecosystems".
Live Earth took place on seven continents in Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London, New York and Rio de Janeiro. Crowded House were headlining in Australia long before the doors opened at the new Wembley Stadium, and their lead singer Neil Finn said this event would shame other rock promoters and set a new standard for responsible shows. "This is the least we can do at this point in the planet's history. It's a groundswell we want to be part of."
But Roger Daltrey of The Who (not on the bill anywhere) had said: "The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert." And Arctic Monkeys said the artists appearing were patronising and hypocritical, "especially when we're using enough power for 10 houses, just for stage lighting".
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