This weekend, Mother Earth is going to be decked out in green.

The 24-hour, seven-continent musical extravaganza that is Live Earth kicks off Saturday, delivering what organizers are calling a "worldwide call to action" to wise up, shape up and act on the myriad problems facing our environment in these fossil-fueled times.

Inspired by Bob Geldof's global-poverty-attacking Live 8 and Al Gore, he of the inconvenient truths and amazing timing, entrepreneur and concert producer Kevin Wall conceived Live Earth as a means to educate as many people, corporations and governments as possible about the climate crisis plaguing this planet while also dipping into his bag of Emmy-winning tricks to put on one hell of a rock concert.

Make that nine all-star rock concerts, to be exact—with Gore on Friday announcing a satellite show in Washington, D.C.—10 if you include the handful of scientists who will be jamming on ice in Antarctica to truly make this an Earth-wide event.

Wall and his fellow event organizers, media partners and advertisers are estimating that more than 2 billion people will check out at least a portion of the all-day affair, whether by TV, Internet or satellite radio.

For starters, NBC Universal, hoping to avoid the commercial-inundated minor viewing debacle that was MTV Networks' handling of Live 8 in 2005, is treating Live Earth somewhat like the Olympics and fanning a day's worth of coverage among its many networks.

NBC, with help from in-house personalities Ann Curry and Carson Daly, will play host to a three-hour prime-time special featuring both taped and live coverage of the goings-on at New Jersey's Giants Stadium, as well as feature snippets of the best and the brightest from D.C., London, Sydney, Shanghai, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro (game on, after an almost last-minute cancellation), Johannesburg and Hamburg (and, hey, maybe those Antarctic scientists will show the Police a thing or two).

Meanwhile, Bravo will carry more than 18 hours of live coverage, starting Saturday at 8 a.m. ET; Sundance Channel and Universal HD will boast 22 live hours starting at 4 a.m. ET, when Jack Johnson and Crowded House get the ball rolling in Sydney; CNBC will feature seven hours beginning at 7 p.m. ET; MSNBC will be reporting from New York and London throughout the day; and Telemundo and Mun2 will also carry their fair share.

And that's just in the U.S. More than 100 countries will air the shows on TV and radio and more than 7,000 public and private viewing events are planned.

Microsoft's MSN, meanwhile, holds the exclusive global online rights to the event and Sirius Satellite Radio will broadcast all eight major concerts and feature live interviews and backstage action from New York and London.

NBCU says that it is working with Wall to cut commercial time among its broadcast and basic cable nets by 50 percent an hour, meaning audiences will be treated to at least 50 minutes of music rather than the standard 42.

"We do believe in the importance of the message and we do believe in working with the producers to find the most compelling way to share this with our viewers," Dan Harrison, senior VP of emerging networks at NBC Cable, told Reuters. "We think we've worked hard to learn from Live 8." NBC's main sponsors include American Express, Apple and General Motors.

Speaking of learning as you go along, there will also be a multisecond delay to avoid the FCC's ire in case anyone drops an F-bomb, as the Who did during Live 8.

On the corporate side, Live Earth's official partners and sponsors include smart USA (as in the maker of the smart car) Pepsi Co., Esurance, the Absolut Spirits Company and Philips.

The U.K.-based Stop Climate Chaos and the Climate Group, Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection and various other international organizations have signed on to help Live Earth fight the good fight.

Here's a quick rundown of what all the fuss is about (for more info on the 150-plus artists on the bill, check out the Live Earth Website):

• New Jersey (like New York Giants and Jets games, the "New York" branch of Live Earth will take place in Jersey), Giants Stadium: The Police, Dave Matthew Band, John Mayer, Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys, Smashing Pumpkins, Ludacris, Kelly Clarkson, Akon, AFI, Keith Urban, Roger Waters, Melissa Etheridge, Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, KT Tunstall
• London, Wembley Stadium: Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Genesis, Duran Duran, Foo Fighters, Spinal Tap, James Blunt, Bloc Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Metallica, John Legend, Snow Patrol, Pussycat Dolls
• Hamburg, HSH Norbank Arena: a newly added Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens), Chris Cornell, Enrique Iglesias, Snoop Dogg, M.I.A., Shakira
• Johannesburg, The Cradle of Human Kind: Joss Stone, UB40, Zola, Danny K
• Tokyo, Makuhari Messe: Linkin Park, Rihanna, AI, Rize and more; a follow-up event in Kyoto takes place later in the day
• Shanghai, Oriental Pearl Tower: Sarah Brightman, 12 Girls Band, Joey
• Sydney, Aussie Stadium: Jack Johnson, Crowded House, Wolfmother, Paul Kelly, Ghostwriters, Toni Collette & the Finish
• Rio de Janeiro, Copacabana Beach: Lenny Kravitz, Macy Gray, Pharrell, Vanessa Da Matta

Gore said on Friday that the smaller-scale D.C. show will take place on the Mall, in front of the Museum of the American Indian and will feature a rare performance by country couple Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. The Native American group Blue Nation will also perform.

Gore is scheduled to address fans at the Washington show before heading up I-95 to attend the New York event with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, where Corzine will sign a bill pledging the Garden State's help in the fight against global warming.

Gore, whose Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth has made him the man of the 11th hour as far as the environment goes in Hollywood, personally asked some of the artists, including "I Need to Wake Up" pal Melissa Etheridge, to write songs especially for the occasion.

"I remember when I was quite young, and the Civil Rights Movement was beginning, listening to Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' in the Wind,' " the erstwhile vice president told USA Today. "It was unbelievable in its impact. And a lot of the music being written and performed for Live Earth is hopefully going to have the same kind of impact."

Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas has a new tune, "Change the World (SOS)," ready to go, while Madonna will perform "Hey You," cowritten by Pharrell Williams, for the first time.

Meanwhile, John Mayer will perform his established hit "Waiting on the World to Change," which is as apropos as it gets for now.

In addition to the tunes, though, Live Earth will also feature 60 short films, 30 public service announcements featuring the likes of Will Ferrell, Cameron Diaz, Chris Rock, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Jessica Biel, Naomi Campbell, Penélope Cruz and Jason Biggs and numerous live appearances by actors, scientists and politicians.

All artists have, of course, donated their performance time, and all proceeds from the event are going to Gore's nonprofit Alliance for Climate Protection.