Volunteers to Help Educate Concertgoers to Keep Rio de Janeiro Beaches Clean

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July 6, 2007) – Surfrider Foundation announced today that it has partnered with Live Earth for their Rio de Janeiro concert event, which is scheduled to take place on the famed Copacabana Beach on Saturday, July 7th.
According to Sergio Mello, Executive Director of Surfrider Foundation Brazil, the organization was approached by Live Earth event organizers, who were concerned about the potential environmental impact of the huge numbers attending the beach concert.

Local activists will work to inform the expected 700,000 concertgoers on the importance of keeping Rio’s Copacabana Beach clean. Over 350 Surfrider volunteers will be stationed around the venue, educating concertgoers about Surfrider initiatives and passing out portable cigarette butt ash cans and trash collection bags to the public so everyone can participate in making an immediate difference in the coastal environment.

“It was clear that we would need a coordinated effort to help care for the beach during the concert,” said Mello. “Our local volunteers were more than happy to pitch in and be named the official volunteers of Live Earth Rio.”

Surfrider Foundation Brazil has secured several hundred thousand biodegradable trash bags for the public to use for impromptu beach clean ups at the concert and recruited the volunteers to distribute them. Volunteers will also be posting educational materials around the site, reminding concertgoers to “respect the beach.”

“Live Earth and Surfrider Foundation are both about pushing culture toward an environmentally conscious ethic. The Rio event is the dead center of that intersection; one of the world’s top beaches, music that will draw masses and real, on-sand beach clean ups to give people an onramp to get involved. The message won’t be abstract in Rio, it will be ‘here’s a bag, help us clean this beach up’” stated Jim Moriarty, the CEO of the Surfrider Foundation. “We know concertgoers are there to hear music from their favorite musicians. But we also know those musicians are involved in this event for more than the music. This event is a platform for global change. It’s a way for all involved to nudge our collective will towards an environmental ethos.”

About the Surfrider Foundation
The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 50,000 members and 64 chapters across the United States and Puerto Rico, with international affiliates in Australia, Europe, Japan and Brazil. For more information visit www.surfrider.org.

About Live Earth
Live Earth is a monumental music event that will bring together more than 2 billion people on July 7, 2007 to combat the climate crisis. Live Earth will stage concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Hamburg, and will feature more than 150 of the world’s best music acts – a mix of both legendary music acts like The Police, Genesis, Bon Jovi and Madonna with the latest headliners like Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson.

Live Earth’s 24 hours of music across 7 continents will deliver a worldwide call to action and the solutions necessary to answer that call. Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve the climate crisis. Live Earth is partnering with the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group, Stop Climate Chaos and other international organizations in this ongoing effort. Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, CEO of Control Room, the company producing the concerts globally. Former Vice President of the United States Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection and a Partner of Live Earth.

Exclusive online media partner MSN is helping Live Earth reach people in every corner of the globe. Official Live Earth concerts will be streamed live at http://liveearth.msn.com. MSN’s 39 localized web portals worldwide attract 465 million monthly users.

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