> Michael Jackson and his Green legacy

So long Michael Jackson, your songs and talent will be most missed.

In this article we try and establish what Michael Jackson actually did for the planet...

1) Awareness

It may come somewhat of a surprise - but he was actually somewhat ahead of the general pack in recognizing some of the core problems facing us and the planet.

Anyone remember his 'Earth Song' in 1996? Thats 13 years ago now! Do you remember that it covered topics like:

• deforestation
• over-fishing
• pollution
• poaching, and
• war

?? Still not sure, have a look at this clip..



Unfortunately this is from a list cataloging the worlds top 40 of most expensive videos ever made - so big plus on the exposure, big minus on the carbon footprint front!  Interestingly this is now the anthem for World Environment Day and was his best selling song in the UK.

There is also his Heal the World song from 1991 (18 years ago remember!)- mostly about the disharmony and war around the world.

So he did try to make some attempts to raise general awareness. Of course this was before global warming took center stage and when being a 'treehugger' was a term of general insult and according to a recent interview he was trying to be green before being green went really mainstream.

Also it has been reported that MJ was in the process of writing a song about Climate Change just before he died, and even got to the demo tape stage..

2) Direct Action

It is also a little known fact that MJ gave generously to many charities, including:

• United Negro College Fund
• NAACP
• children's charities
• AIDS charities

So not really Green focused as such but touching on some of the consequences of a failure to act Green.

3) Personal Life

Did you know MJ had a green car? In 2007 he bought a Toyota Prius for around $20,000. The Prius is electrically and petrol powered car which has basically become the celebrities green vehicle of choice. Now whether he was just following the crowd (admittedly rather late as Leonardo DiCaprio picked one up in 2001) or acting off his own self belief to be green is unknown - at least this act will have made others consider buying greener vehicles.

4) Carbon footprint

Hmm, we cannot find anything which states that Michael actually did anything pro-actively to reduce or contain his carbon footprint.. Now given he had multi-million dollar properties like the Neverland Ranch to maintain and lots of travelling, energy consumption etc - his carbon footprint most have (& still is) massive.

Although, given with that carbon footprint he did raise awareness and 'give' alot back; should we be willing to discount this?