Live Aid helped bring national attention to the famine happening in Ethiopa and as some aid workers explained,
put humanitarian concern at the center of foreign policy. For many people around the world, the concert was the first time they stopped to think about crises and development gaps in Africa and perhaps a Live Aid for climate change could help do the same. As Joanna Macrae, the former coordinator of the humanitarian policy group at the Overseas Development Institute,
told the Guardian, “Ethiopia would not have got the attention it did without
Live Aid.“
Why This Matters: A concert like this could help propel climate change to the forefront of issues that people care about. Just look at the success that rapper Lil Dicky’s recent single
Earth had, it debuted at #17 on the Billboard chart and was the
highest debut single for that week. Making climate change a part of pop culture is key to getting more people to care and talk about it and perhaps one of the best ways to do that is to bring the world’s top artists together for Live Aid Part II. Queen’s in, how about you Taylor?