The television ratings for the Live Earth concert apparently were a failure. In the United States, the concert was watched by about 2.7 million people. In the United Kingdom, a few hundred thousand more watched - I think their total was around 3.1 million. But in the reports that I’ve read bashing the show, there is no mention of the over 8 million folks who watched the concert on MSN. Of course 8 million viewers online is a bad number in a global marketplace of 6 billion potential viewers, but it is certainly not a failure.

The early estimates were that roughly 2 billion people watched, saw, or heard the Live Earth concert. Remember, if I’m a Nielsen rating household and I’m watching the concert, what’s to say that 3 of my family members aren’t watching with me? And what about the radios that played the concerts live like Sirius Satellite Radio?

I’m more inclined to believe in the 2 billion number than the “dismal failure” crowd. Listen, I know that Al Gore was the guy behind these concerts and that he’s a whack job on occasion (I’m not his biggest fan at all), but why bash the point of the concert because of the politics of the man behind it? The Live Earth concert is the largest entertainment event in the world’s history. That’s a huge accomplishment, even for a whack job liberal like Al Gore!

So I congratulate Al Gore and his band of merry misfits for their accomplishment. In fact, I even watched “An Inconvenient Truth” over the weekend just to see what his point of view was about the environment. Sure, most of his science seemed to conveniently fit his message, but I essentially don’t have a problem with Al Gore fooling the masses on this issue. Let me explain…

If we, as a country and a world community, become more reliant on renewable energy and reduce our carbon emissions then the future is only bright for everyone. There is no real downside here. I don’t see how global warming - or, if that term is too decisive for you, then let’s just call it relying on renewable energy sources - is a political battle. Republicans are for something called “energy independence” which is essentially ending our reliance on foreign oil. President Bush has also allocated a butt ton of public dollars towards researching hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Democrats like Al Gore are pressing for similar policies. Both political parties support using energy efficient light bulbs and solar power in your home, if possible. Everyone supports recycling, hybrid vehicles, flex fuels, and conservation…

So why does this issue become a political one? Better yet, why bash the Live Earth concerts? That’s just dumb.

But then again, when politics (or things of a political nature) are discussed in any setting in America these days, the conversation turns pretty stupid pretty quickly. It’s unfortunate.

As uber-liberal as this might sound, I’ve decided to do my small, SMALL part in helping preserve the environment for tomorrow’s generation. No, I’m not buying carbon credits and no, I’m not switching to wearing burlap or whatever those eco-crazy people do. I’ve decided to do a much smaller part for now and it’s something that you can do, too.

It seems that all of my creditors and debtors (bills and income) offer paper-free communications, so I’ve decided to switch to that method of receiving my statements. Sure, I’m not saving huge swatches of the rain forests nor am I preventing the global warming or whatever is going on out there, but at least I’m doing some small, small part to make things a little bit better.

They way I see it, if everyone flipped over to e-mail or non-paper communications with their debtors, then that has got to be tons and tons of paper that is saved each year. Sure, I don’t know what the exact numbers are, but it’s got to be something big. I’ve also gone a little bit further out on this limb with respect to the charities that I donate to. I’ve asked them to stop sending me paper solicitations in the mail and to only contact me via my e-mail address. Believe it or not, they’ve all been ready and willing to fix my contact method to e-mail only. It’s refreshing to have someone listen to you!

Also, the Market Street Mission in Morristown, New Jersey even complimented me on my eco-friendly approach towards solicitations. That was nice of them to do.

So there you go. That’s my little part to help save the world I guess. And please, bear in mind that if all of this global warming crap goes away in a few years, I’m totally taking 100% credit for it!