Morning mama.
Heidy, Ho!
Oops, could that get me banned?
By Richard Harrington | Washington Post Staff Writer | Friday, April 20, 2007; Page WE05
Sheryl Crow's gonna soak up the sun while it's still free.
The cost of global warming is another matter, and that's what brings Crow and environmental activist Laurie David to two local universities this weekend, capping an 11-date "Stop Global Warming College Tour" aimed at inspiring students to become part of the movement.
Saturday's concert at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House will be a 90-minute affair featuring a short performance by Crow and remarks by David, founder of Stopglobalwarming.org and co-producer of the Oscar-winning climate-change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." There will also be clips from that film and from "Earth to America," a David-produced comedy special, as well as a dialogue with students.
Sunday's concert at George Washington University's Smith Center, doubling as an Earth Day celebration, will have additional guests, including Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Carole King, Bobby Kennedy Jr. and David's husband, producer-comedian Larry David. (As of press time, tickets for both concerts were still available for students, faculty and staff.)
"I feel this is the most important Earth Day that will take place in our lives," Crow said last week from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "This is a real turning point."
The nine-time Grammy Award-winning artist met Laurie David in November at a birthday party David threw for a mutual friend. Hitting it off, the two followed up with a lunch, at which they hatched the idea of the college tour.
Crow says she had seen "An Inconvenient Truth" and read David's best-selling book, "Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You!" "In 1990, I toured with Don Henley, who is a very, very committed environmentalist, so I was already very invested in the environmental movement," Crow says. "Laurie and I met over sushi, and both of us were asking the same question: What can we do together to get the message out?
"My answer to everything, of course, is to get a tour bus and take it out to the people, and that's what we did -- a bio-diesel tour bus, of course!"
The tour kicked off April 9 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Texas was chosen as the starting point because it leads all states in fossil fuel emissions, largely because of heavy industry and an affinity for big pickups. David, who quit a successful career as a television executive, talent manager and producer of comedy specials to become a full-time environmental activist, identifies global warming as a man-made phenomenon caused by carbon dioxide from vehicles, factories and power plants, producing gases that are trapped in Earth's atmosphere and act like a blanket to hold in excess heat. Potential results include drought, rising sea levels, destructive storms and assorted health risks.
So it makes sense for Crow to perform such songs as "A Change Would Do You Good" (climate change excepted), "Everyday Is a Winding Road" and "Soak Up the Sun" acoustically with her longtime guitarist, Tim Smith. They also do a cover of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out," which could serve as an anthem for the environmental movement.
So far, Crow says, "the reception's been amazing. We feel a little bit guilty over how much fun we've been having on a tour that's supposed to be disseminating information, which it is. Our sole objective is not to be preaching to the converted but hopefully be bringing some people over to the side of protecting the environment and also giving kids some idea of how they can be a part of that movement.
"As we've been telling them, it's not about doing everything, it's about doing something. And there's never been a social movement in this country that has not really, I believe, not only involved college campuses but, in most cases, stemmed from college campuses."
"It's past debate." Crow says. "It's hardly controversial doctrine. There is global warming, humans are causing it and we have a short window to do something about it. It's absolutely fantastic to me that anybody would be disputing this. When you have 2,000 scientists from all over the world confirming that this is happening, anybody who's dragging their feet on it at this point is irresponsible.
"I feel like people in Washington who are not propagating this, moving this issue forward or doing anything about it are being extremely irresponsible and, I think, unethical by not getting the message out. We have a window of opportunity of about 10 years here, according to all these scientists who have been part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report [issued this month], and these are conservative scientists. It's already proven. Let's get past the debate and start moving forward with this."
On Earth Day on Sunday, the 2006 David-produced documentary on global warming, "Too Hot Not to Handle," will air at various times on several HBO channels, so it's hardly surprising that the college tour is being filmed as well. According to Crow, "We look at this as an opportunity to follow up 'An Inconvenient Truth' with what I feel are strong applications for everyone, ideas for how they can start living a greener life."
That includes musicians making significant changes in how they tour, sort of "Put on Your Green Shows." (In 1993, Crow did background vocals on "Put on Your Green Shoes," a multi-artist album aimed at stimulating awareness of environmental issues and celebrating the beauty of our planet. Among the featured artists was Willie Nelson, one of the first major acts to convert his tour bus to bio-diesel. He now owns his own bio-diesel fuel company.)
Many tours are attempting to go green, "so you're going to see a lot more of this," Crow says.
Meanwhile, the singer is decidedly upbeat about the media attention global warming is getting these days.
"It's interesting -- nine months ago, even six months ago, you weren't seeing even a small percentage of what's being written on the environment like you are now. It's front-page stuff, and magazines have devoted whole issues to it -- from Elle to Vanity Fair [both current issues, with Laurie David having guest-edited Elle], Newsweek and Time, even Sports Illustrated had an issue on it. It's everywhere, and I feel it's our responsibility to educate ourselves and become part of the movement because we live on a living organism. We depend on the Earth's health, and it's becoming sick, and it's going to affect how we live our lives."