From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Will Live Earth be good for the planet?

Hello again, I'm Orin Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Live Earth produced nine concerts featuring world-class pop stars along with local acts on seven continents, plus Al Gore on the Washington Mall. There were 24 hours of music commercials for ecological products and political exhortations. On To the Point, was it a high point of the Green Revolution or just another high-tech spectacle? Will millions of people change their lifestyles? Will they force

governments and corporations to act on the message? Or will the massive audience be lulled

into feeling better without insisting on the changes that could make a difference? On reporter's

notebook later on, the latest thing in air travel, a plastic plane.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point. Live Earth was

seen and heard around the world for 24 hours this weekend with nine concerts on seven continents.

On To the Point, will it advance Al Gore's hopes for a green revolution, or allow a massive audience to feel better without the corporate, governmental, and personal changes that could make a global difference.

On reporter's notebook, Boeing's new dreamliner is taking the airline industry by storm before its first flight.

First, this news update. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has canceled a trip to South America amid reports that he's part of an agonizing reappraisal of Iraq strategy at the Bush White House, set off in part by defections of high-ranking Republican senators.

Press Secretary Tony Snow was grilled by reporters today.

Putting aside a timetable, is there a debate for right now going on inside the White House for a gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops, as the New York Times said, a gradual withdrawal? No, there's no plan. Again, ultimately the president wants to withdraw troops based on the facts on the ground, not on the matter of politics. Howard LaFranke is diplomatic correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.. Howard, thanks very much for joining us.

Good to talk to you, Warren.

You've written a story very much like the one in the New York Times.

So talking about a post-surge Iraq strategy.

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