Singer John Denver, Sen. Al Gore and the Dalai Lama Friday opened an alternative meeting of political and spiritual leaders aimed at bridging the gap between the official Earth Summit and the people of the world.
For three days, business leaders, artists, scientists, politicians and religious authorities will debate how to prevent global environmental disaster."If we were running a business the way human civilization is running the Earth, we would have to say we were in a process of liquidation," Gore, a Tennessee Democrat, told a news conference.
"We pretend that natural resources are limitless and that nature has a limitless ability to absorb whatever abuse we heap upon it," he said before the opening ceremony of the meeting, called the Parliamentary Earth Summit.
The parliament opened with a song by Denver, who will be master of ceremonies for the meeting. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, then began a series of prayers by religious leaders.
The unorthodox parliament will also be addressed by children, and every session will begin with song.
The Dalai Lama began his day with a visit to a Rio samba school where he was met by dancing slum children, and Amazon Indians crowned him with a traditional headdress.
He warned that awareness of environmental damage had been slow. "Damage to the environment is gradual and once it is obvious to everyone, it's too late," he said.
Gore said the parliamentary meeting was crucial to the success of the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, the official Earth Summit, as participants there had to implement any environmental agreements taken by world leaders.