During a backstage interview with Aamer Haleem at Live Earth held Saturday at Giants Stadium (it’s located in New Jersey, not New York), the members of Fall Out Boy boiled the complicated conundrum of climate change down to a personal—rather than a political—issue. If we unplug our cell phone chargers when they aren’t in use, maintain proper air pressure in our tires, switch off computers at night and upgrade to more efficient light bulbs, then we have a good chance at saving the planet from a horrible demise. Many other musicians and celebrities echoed similar factoids during the sprawling global event that spanned seven continents. They are only half right.

The pink elephant on Live Earth’s green international stage is that significant headway will occur only when politicians and business unite and attack the issue in tandem. That really hasn’t really happened yet.

But why did everyone tiptoe around the subject? It’s election time in America, and former vice-president Al Gore was painfully precise with the message he chose to convey on the platform he built with the organizers of Live Earth, a logical follow-up to his Academy Award winning documentary, 2006’s An Inconvenient Truth. Gore wants to be seen as an environmental do-gooder, not as a presidential candidate waiting in the wings. Unlike the urgent political and social message delivered by Sir Bob Geldof (a detractor of Live Earth) to bring awareness to starving people in Africa that resulted in the Live Aid concerts, Gore mustered no collective outrage over the melting polar caps. What we received instead was plenty of friendly advice on how we can tackle this problem by doing little things.

Perhaps that's why nobody aside from Chris Rock urged people to stop driving SUVs and demand the U.S. government and its elected officials do something about this environmental travesty. While urging people to recycle and conserve energy can make an impact, having the U.S., China and India—the three worst emitters of greenhouse gas—ratify and adhere to the Kyoto Protocol (a treaty drafted in 1997 that commits 37 industrialized nations to cut gas emissions by 2012) is when real progress will happen.

Politics aside, the performances were fine, though none were entirely memorable. Bravo’s American-centric daylong TV coverage was strangely uneven and unbalanced. The network showed just one performance from Metallica and the Beastie Boys at Wembley, but chose to give Kenna, Taking Back Sunday, KT Tunstall and Corine Bailey Rae extensive airtime. Hip-hop proved to be the event’s Achilles heel. XZIBIT seemed to puzzle the audience in Tokyo; Ludacris was dead boring; and Kanye West couldn’t get the party started no matter how many times this narcissist sprinted across stage.

In the end, it was seasoned stadium acts who triumphed. Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame delivered one of the best sets on the historic night as an inflatable pig emblazoned with SOS (Save Our Sausage) floated above the stadium. Likewise, Smashing Pumpkins tore through "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and “Tarantula.” Before closing with “Today,” Billy Corgan half-seriously asked fans to buy Zeitgeist on Tuesday and not to “illegally download it like you did all our other albums.” Many a truth is said in jest, Mr. Corgan.

The closing set by The Police was adequate, though not terribly exciting. Stewart Copeland laid down his syncopated grooves from behind his turret of drums; Andy Summers played rockier versions of the band’s hits, and Sting seemed careful not to blow out his voice. On their final song, “Message in a Bottle,” the reunited ‘80s rockers were joined by John Mayer and Kanye West. It was a far cry from the memorable all-star Wembley/JFK Band Aid jam sessions that closed Live Aid. The night ended in a whimper rather than a roar. Much like Al Gore’s last quest for the presidency.

Live Earth: The Good, The Bad, The Hypocritical

Worst screw-up: Billy Corgan botching the intro to “Today.” Twice.
Least eye contact among band members: The Police
Band everyone kissed up to: Bon Jovi
Best surprise duet: Keith Urban and Alicia Keys covering “Gimme Shelter”
Worst surprise collabo: Kanye West and John Mayer joining The Police during “Message in a Bottle”
Best song dedicated to Al Gore: Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These”
Least anticipated reunion: Spinal Tap
Worst cover: AFI’s rendition of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”
Most improved band since the Concert for Diana: Duran Duran
Most hypocritical artist on the bill: The News of the World detailed estimates of Madonna's carbon emissions from nine houses, a fleet of cars, a private jet and the Confessions tour, calling her a "climate-change catastrophe." Madonna’s carbon footprint was estimated at about 100 times the average Briton's.
Worst possible band intro for the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Did anyone get Chris Rock’s joke about a baby in Jamaica bursting into flames every day? We didn’t.
Live Earth’s strange sponsorship bedfellows: Chevy and DaimlerChrysler