The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current, July 01, 2016, Page 7, Image 7

July 2016
FEATURES
Dave Matthews’ Bama Green Project attempts to educate fans around the world about
steps toward sustainability, while his band travels in a biodiesel bus and eats locally to
reduce its environmental impact.
Dear EarthTalk: Which current
artists, bands and music festivals
are leading lights when it comes
to reducing their environmental
footprints and spreading awareness
about sustainability?
-- Jim Greenville, Brewster, NY
The music industry has indeed come
under fire in recent years for the huge
amount of plastic waste it generates
at outdoor concerts and festivals each
summer. The 2015 Bonnaroo Music
and Arts Festival, for one, generated
some 679 tons of waste over just four
days.
Aside from their irresponsible
disposal after the fact, these single-use
plastics are also fossil fuel-intensive
to produce to begin with. But recent
acknowledgement of this issue by the
industry has resulted in actions by
fans, bands and entire festivals.
Musician Jack Johnson has led the
charge on this initiative, championing
the elimination of disposable plastics
on his tour, as well as partnering
with several environmental groups
to found the Sustainable Concerts
Working Group.
This organization created a blueprint
for making tours more sustainable,
listing actions to take by both the
band and the fans. Their website
has a long list of goals, followed by
specific actions to achieve them—for
example, reducing carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions by switching to
renewable energy sources, more
efficient lighting and biofuel-powered
The Southwest Portland Post • 7
transportation.
Many other musicians are also
working to green up their industry.
The Dave Matthews Band has taken
significant steps to neutralize its
environmental impact via its Bama
Green Project, which educates fans
around the world about paths toward
sustainability. The band travels in a
biodiesel tour bus and eats locally.
Pop icon Adele has publicly
championed the charity, Drop4Drop,
which provides local, clean water
to impoverished areas of the world.
Rock band Phish founded the group
WaterWheel in 1997 to focus on clean
water and urban gardening.
Meanwhile, U2 has worked closely
with Greenpeace since the 1990s,
helping them with protest campaigns
from nuclear reprocessing in England
to the destruction of forests in Russia.
And punk rockers Green Day live up
to their name by partnering with the
Natural Resources defense Council
(NRDC) to raise awareness about
American dependence on foreign oil.
While individual musicians
have found success in mitigating
environmental impact, some have
also taken larger-scale actions. Dave
Matthews, Maroon 5, Willie Nelson,
The Roots, Sheryl Crow and others
founded the Green Music Group
(GMG) in 2004 to help change the
industry as a whole.
The group has four core principles
with which they hope to incur a
paradigm shift: create a community of
environmentally conscious musicians
and fans; facilitate “large-scale
greening” of the music industry
t h ro u g h t o u r i n g , d e v e l o p m e n t
and public service campaigns;
give environmental nonprofits a
megaphone for their cause; and
position musical leaders as voices for
change.
GMG has already made 80 major
tours sustainable while reaching over
10 million fans in just over 10 years.
Music festivals are also starting
to follow suit. Bonnaroo recently
partnered with the Plastic Pollution
Coalition to encourage attendees to
bring their own reusable containers,
rather than giving out thousands of
plastic cups.
The Outside Lands Music Festival
only uses biodegradable containers.
Other festivals have completely
eliminated the use of plastics; instead
offering discounted products in return
for reusable stainless steel containers.
With this trend gaining momentum
every year, music fans around the
world can be optimistic that the music
industry will continue on this road to
sustainability.
Contacts: Bonnaroo Festival, www.
bonnaroo.com; Bama Green Project,
www.bamagreen.org; Drop4Drop,
www.drop4drop.org; Green Music
Group, www.greenmusicgroup.org;
WaterWheel Foundation, phish.com/
waterwheel/; Outside Lands Music
Festival, www.sfoutsidelands.com.
EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy
Scheer & Doug Moss and is a registered
trademark of the nonprofit Earth Action
Network. To donate, visit www.earthtalk.
org. Send questions to: question@
earthtalk.org.
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