Their college tour ended, Sheryl Crow and Laurie David describe their efforts to stop global warming as part of the most important mission of the times.
That’s the hope of Grammy-winning rocker Crow and David, who produced “An Inconvenient Truth,” the global-warming movie that won the Oscar for best documentary.
“It’s great to go out and play music, and I love that, too. And it’s also nice to make money. But this is not that,” Crow said Sunday in an interview. “This is a whole bunch of people dedicating their time, their lives, working for free, for a mission. And it is the most important mission.”
The pair rode a biodiesel bus on a 12-campus tour to raise awareness about global warming by engaging students on the topic. It started earlier this month at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and was timed to end on Earth Day.
David said “federal inaction is no longer acceptable” and is pressing for Congress to enact a bill to impose mandatory curbs on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases within two years. She predicted the 2008 election would revolve around three main issues: jobs, terrorism and temperature.
“I just feel like if this isn’t addressed by this administration, if this administration isn’t hearing this message loud and clear, then I feel like there’s an irresponsibility,” Crow said.
The two women planned to meet with House Energy Chairman John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., on Monday.
Crow and David were interviewed before appearing at the tour’s last show at George Washington University with Grammy-winning musicians Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Carole King.
Also speaking at the concert was David’s husband, Larry, a comedian and producer best known as co-creator of the TV show “Seinfeld,” and environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Hurricane Katrina is just a taste of what’s to come if we don’t stop global warming,” Kennedy told some 2,000 people who turned out for the songs and speeches.
Crow opened with “A Change Would Do You Good” and did a spirited duet with King on “I Feel The Earth Move.” McGraw and Hill also performed.
Crow and David unsuccessfully tried to change the thinking of Karl Rove, President Bush’s top adviser, at a correspondents’ dinner Saturday night. “I honestly thought that I was going to change his mind, like, right there and then,” David said the interview.
Crow dedicated the closing number of the concert, sang by all the performers, to Rove, wryly calling him her “new friend.” The title: “We Can Work It Out,” written and made famous by The Beatles.
