The Big Ask

[the big ask]

According to a recent poll, nearly 3/4 of you think the UK Government should do more to stop climate change.

The Big Ask has simple aim - Getting people to ask difficult questions so the Government is persuaded to take action.

The big ask CD is free with the observer this Sunday 18th March. It includes three exclusive live tracks performed by Radiohead's Thom and Jonny at the sell-out big ask live benefit gig at London's Koko on 1 May 2006. Other artists include Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Root Manuva, Razorlight, Damien Rice, Guillemots and Polar Bear.

The Big Ask is run by Friends of the Earth - an environmental campaign group.

[nightshade]

Welcome to WAB is this just a plug?

[Tursiops2]

Originally Posted by the big ask

.
The big ask CD is free with the observer this Sunday 18th March. It includes three exclusive live tracks performed by Radiohead's Thom and Jonny at the sell-out big ask live benefit gig at London's Koko on 1 May 2006. Other artists include Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Root Manuva, Razorlight, Damien Rice, Guillemots and Polar Bear.

I'm all in favour of asking questions, so let me ask you one, The Big Ask:
Is there anything else on this CD apart from that lot? Anything of substance, that will persuade me to fork out £1.70 for a massive wadge of newsprint, two-thirds of which I'm not interested in, won't read, and will chuck straight in the recycling bin? If not, its a lost cause as far as I'm concerned.

Tursiops2 (ex-Observer reader)

[the big ask]

Hi there,

Thanks for your responses. Yes, a shameless plug I'm afraid, but one with a positive message.

The Big Ask campaign is about tackling the biggest question the world faces - how do we stop dangerous climate change?

It is about helping to get answers to this difficult question.

The most important part of the question is - Is the Government doing enough about climate change?

We think they should do at lot more. And 70% of the public agree.

Are you ready to get the Government to tackle the big question? It's a huge obstacle to climb - but together we can do it.

The CD - Artists taking action on climate change – has been compiled in support of The Big Ask. Unfortunately there is no factual information on the cd, it is simply designed to raise awareness of The Big Ask campaign.

You can find further information here: Friends of the Earth: The Big Ask, www.myspace.com/lostenvelope

[eeyore]

here are some difficult questions for you then :

a) what is the carbon footprint of producing this CD (which you freely admit contains no useful information)

b) what was the carbon footprint of the big ask gig at koko last year

c) can you give us any substantive evidence that this gig and campaign thus far has had any impact on goverment climate change policy

and

d) would we be welcome to spam the big ask / freinds of the earth websites with "shameless plugs" for wild about britain ?

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by eeyore

here are some difficult questions for you then :

a) what is the carbon footprint of producing this CD (which you freely admit contains no useful information)

b) what was the carbon footprint of the big ask gig at koko last year

c) can you give us any substantive evidence that this gig and campaign thus far has had any impact on goverment climate change policy

and

d) would we be welcome to spam the big ask / freinds of the earth websites with "shameless plugs" for wild about britain ?

What eeyore said!

[Mr Mag00]

phew, all get out of bed the wrong side this morning??? hope i never get on the wrong side of you

I have to say i am drip by drip beginning to lose the will to continue with all the environmental support i give and work i do. Simply because everything is now calculated how much does this cost for the Earth/carbon footprint. I spend all my time looking at the environmental cost and it is actually beginning to get me down. and the posts above again illustrate this to me.
I/we try all I/we can as a family short of living in the dark playing boardgames by candlelight and leaving us all wearing glasses but it becomes increasingly frustrating looking around.
My children want to use the computer to talk with friends, listen to music and have some fun, am i to stop them growing up in a technological world due to impact and not take them to sports, as an example, because i am using the car for an unnecessary trip, what is a necessary trip? after all this i am left feeling guilty.
The recent thread about the Honda car is an example of the difficulty in which i find myself. here I am writing a really unnecessary piece on a pc using electricity what right have i to do this and yet teach about energy wastage and environmental costs of living tomorrow in a class???

[Garden Carpet]

Mr Mag00 its nice to see you back on the forum. I agree with eeyore in that I dont think we would be welcome on those sites plugging WAB. I should have been more clear in this.

We should be aware of our energy use... but not to the stage where we feel guilty about having a day out with the family.

I dont always agree with the climate change arguement but feel that we should do all we can to prevent a worsening situation. I really dont care who or what is responsible. If it is the sun or if it is humanity, we should all stop apportioning blame and just put our energies into finding ways to deal with it. It can only do good for the planet if we do this.
jaki

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Garden Carpet

We should be aware of our energy use... but not to the stage where we feel guilty about having a day out with the family.

jaki

I agree Jaki - I find myself in a similar dichotomy working for a conservation organisation and driving circa 10,000 miles per year for work.

I think as far as mitigating our C02 consumption we should all be aware of what we do and make reasonable reductions where we can but not at the cost of a reasonable standard of living.

my point about the co2 footprint of the big ask is that it strikes me that this is just bandwaggon jumping by artists who are as interested in massaging their own egos as in acheiving a true reduction in C02 - the initial post says that 3/4 of "us" want the government to do more this being the case why is there a need for a free CD and a gig which hardly anyone heard about at Koko - how will this really achieve anything beyond blatant self publicity ?

and also joining forums such as this with the sole intention of posting plugs is one step away from spam - its not like "big ask" is going to become a regular member or contribute anything to the site - its is simply a (self admitted) "shameless plug" as an attempt to garner free publicity at our expense