Rock Stars Green Up Touring Footprint
I was at a Guster concert a few weeks ago, when the lead singer/guitarist, Adam Gardner, encouraged concertgoers to offset their travel to the show by buying carbon offsets, in the form of wind tags at the merch booth. It turns out that in 2004 Gardner, and his wife, Lauren Sullivan, founded Reverb, a non-profit that seeks to educate music fans about environmentalism by greening up touring and concerts.
Because of the high environmental costs of touring, artists like The Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, O.A.R, Alanis Morissette, Bonnie Raitt, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are now fueling tour busses with biodiesel, setting up recycling at shows, and powering concerts with renewable energy, in conjunction with Green Highway. Reverb also connects bands with environmental organizations to create interactive eco-villages at venues. Reverb sponsors the Campus Consciousness Tour, bringing expanded eco-villages to college campuses along with shows, to encourage environmental consciousness among college students and college communities.
Guster and friends aren't the only musicians trying to lighten their eco-footprint. Willie Nelson's tour bus runs on biodiesel, and many popular summer festivals, including Bonnaroo and Wakarusa, have booths where concertgoers can offset their travel. At Wakarusa, all cups, utensils, and other food packaging is either compostable, biodegradable, or recyclable, and they provide on-site facilities to do all three. In fact, when you arrive at Wakarusa to camp, you are given bags to encourage you to recycle aluminum, cardboard, glass, plastic, and steel.
If you are planning on attending a summer tour, stop by and purchase a carbon offset in the vendors area. Think of it this way: drink one less overpriced beer, buy an offset, and feel even better about your concert choices.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Carbon offsets are asinine.
By the same logic, I could go out and beat a homeless man to death and then donate clothes to a homeless charity.
I applaud the musicians that are “fueling tour busses with biodiesel, setting up recycling at shows, and powering concerts with renewable energy”.
More importantly than buying carbon offsets is to live moderately and within your means (or below your means) and make wise environmental decisions.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Although I do agree that it would be asenine to beat a homelsess man, I'm not sure I follow your analogy, James… care to elaborate?
-David
Founder and CEO
Green Options, LLC
March 6th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
People who do live moderately and within their means still appreciate pop culture. I am passionate about environmentalism and sustainability, but still like to go to shows. Why mock those musicians or concertgoers who are making an effort to lighten their footprint? It seems really mean-spirited and counterproductive, i.e. you can’t do something completely carbon-neutral/waste-free, so you shouldn’t even make the effort? That makes no sense.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:00 am
James -
Thank you for pointing out that offsets are not an excuse to pollute and do not absolve us of our environmental sins.
We at NativeEnergy (Reverb’s carbon offset partner) live by the credo: “Reduce what you, offset what you can’t.” We would encourage everyone to follow Guster’s example and fuel their cars with biodiesel, utilize public transportation, recycle at home and at the show, and all other methods of minimizing your environmental impact. However in some cases this is just not practical.
When we evaluate the carbon footprint of a concert, over 85% of the CO2 emissions are a direct result of fans traveling to and from the event. I applaud Reverb and Guster for taking the initiative to educate the fans about how to minimize their impact, whether it through carpooling, public transportation, or as a last resort, offsetting.
Brian Allenby
brian.allenby@nativeenergy.com
March 7th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Bonnaroo not only facilitated concertgoers buying offsets, we also used bioplastics for all concession stands (cups forks knives) and biodegardable plates, bowls… we had triple garbage bins (recyclable, compostable and garbage), we had onsite recycling thanks to the amazing work of Clean Vibes), sold organic cotton and hemp t-shits (had a free T-Shirt reconstruction booth in PlanetRoo) had eco speakers (singers from rusted root to bonnie raitt) and offset our own emissions. This ssummers ‘Roo is going to be even greener– incorporating a number of alternative technologies that are much greener and energy efficient! And the plans for 2008 are even greater!