Green Options » concerts

Green Music: The Treasure Island Music Festival

Becky Striepe — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:00:55 +0000

One of my friends recently attended the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco and texted me about their awesome green initiatives. From the show. Yes, I’m sort of a nerd for this kind of thing.

We’re all about musicians lightening their footprints around here. According to the folks at Live Earth: “A single concert event can produce as little as 9,000 kilos (close 20,000 lbs) to as much as 90,000 kilos (197,000 lbs) of solid waste in a single day.” That’s a ridiculous amount of waste and doesn’t even take into account things like CO2 emissions from concertgoers driving to the venue or indirect emissions from the food and whatnot.

The folks at Treasure Island Fest set out to do things a little differently. Not only did they have a kickass lineup that’s making me more than a little bit jealous, they implemented all sorts of impressive green initiatives. Check our their greening and sustainability statement:

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Reverb Helping Phish Green Their Summer Tour

Becky Striepe — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:00:13 +0000

Phish is teaming up once again with Reverb Rock to lighten their summer tour’s carbon footprint!

[Phish at Hampton Coliseum, 2009. Creative Commons photo by Bryan Sereny]

Portland, Maine-based Reverb is a non profit organization that helps bands reduce their tours’ impacts through education and action. They’ve worked on over 70 tours and 1000 events since their launch in 2004, saving 62,608 tons of CO2 and reaching over 8 million fans! They helped Phish reduce the impact of their Hampton Coliseum shows earlier this year, and now they’ve announced some exciting initiatives for the summer tour!

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Reverb Rock Helps Musicians and Concert Goers Go Green

Becky Striepe — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:00:02 +0000

By offering services from ride-sharing to Earth-friendly merch options, Reverb Rock helps concert-goers and -organizers lower their carbon footprints!

[Creative Commons photo by Joe Goldberg]

OK, I’ll admit it. On top of being a composting, rainwater harvesting, organic gardening hippie, I am also a huge Phish fan. You can imagine my delight when I got this in my email:

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Recycling at Outdoor Concerts: Wecycle Has a Better Idea

Sarah Pressman Lovinger — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:26:29 +0000

It’s summer, and you are sitting outside on the Great Lawn of Central Park, listening to a concert in New York City. You are surrounded by friends, you are enjoying a delicious picnic, and the music is great. The only way to improve this event would be to devise a smarter way for you and the thousands of other people at the concert to dispose of the plastic cups they are using to drink beer, soda, and water.

Enter Emery Goossens and Evan Eichorn, two New York Univeristy college students.

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Rock Stars Green Up Touring Footprint

Kelli Best-Oliver — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:03:06 +0000

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.

Al Gore To Launch Climate Change Concerts This July

Michael dEstries — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 14:06:50 +0000

Fresh off the wires, it's come to our attention that former Vice-President Al Gore will tomorrow in London announce a massive series of concerts for this coming July to address climate change. The events, which will be a mix of music, film, and television will take place in London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto. The usual television specials from all the major broadcasters will follow to reach the rest of the world.

Almost 2.5 million people across the globe will be involved in this event; deemed 'bigger than Live Aid'. The hope is that nearly 2 billion people will watch. From the article,

One person close to the event said yesterday: "The talent involved is just exponentially bigger because the issue itself is bigger.

"Live Aid was about asking people to stump up money, this is about effecting systemic change.

"The aim is not just to drive awareness but to get people to take action."

And how might Gore encourage people to take action? I can imagine that there would be a tremendous amount of education surrounding such an event — install CFL bulbs, buy efficient appliances, etc. Most likely, there will also be opportunities for people to buy carbon credits to offset emissions and/or support some environmental causes.

As soon as this event has a name, we'll give you the details. Gore is expected to announce more tomorrow. Stay tuned!!

Source: Financial Times via Climate Change Action