NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — After a ten-week review, organizers for the Live Earth events have issued their final report on how successful their efforts at staging environmentally-friendly events actually were.
External estimates by news outlets had put the aggregate carbon footprint for the events at around 30,000 tons while Live Earth's in house analysis put the figure at 18,526. The final numbers, at least by Live Earth's account proved to be slightly over their own guess, coming in at just under 20,000 tons of carbon.
The largest single contributor to this was audience and artist travel, which chalked up approximately 87%. While virtually all participating artists flew in on commercial airlines, on-ground transportation for staff and performers was handled with low emission biofuel vehicles.
Another aspect that the study looked at was waste. All told, the events generated about 100 tons of refuse. About 80% was diverted to recycling and composting instead of being shipped to the landfills. The event in Tokyo managed to divert 99% of its waste in this manner while the event at Giant's Stadium was the least efficient, trucking 6 out of the 25 tons of waste generated to local landfills.
The venues were all optimized to be as efficient as possible. Many of the events were held during the day, drastically reducing the lighting overhead. Additional steps were taken by introducing low power LED lighting systems and instituting careful measures to cut down on power use by taping unused light switches in the off position.
The report also provided information resources for other event planners to reduce their own environmental impact. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
