REVERB Helps Other Musicians Go Green

The following piece was written by one of our interns, Meg Cunningham:

In my opinion, there's nothing better than hearing music live. Seeing your favorite band play with the hopes that they might revisit some old songs, the experience of the lights, theatrics, and being surrounded by other fanatics - it's what makes concerts so enjoyable.

But from an environmental standpoint, it gets overwhelming when you think about all the non-recycled bottles, paper plates, plastic cups, and overpriced merchandise that is overlooked at the different venues. It gets depressing when you realize that this action is repeated nearly five times a week when bands tour through the city.

Luckily, Guster’s lead vocalist/guitarist, Adam Gardner, and wife, Lauren Sullivan, have decided to change the way the music industry approaches the environment. By founding the non-profit organization, REVERB, they have been able to connect with many mainstream bands and artists to educate them and their fans on the importance of conserving while on tour.

Some of the services REVERB offers are connecting tour buses with biodiesel and bio-gradable catering utensils, recycling bottles and cans, providing green merchandise such as old guitar strings to be used as necklaces, and educating the fans about sustainable living in their “Eco-Village” camps.

However, as much good as REVERB does for the many bands it partners up with, there is an aspect of touring that even the band can't control: pollution. According to REVERB's website, nearly 80% of the CO2 footprint produced while a band is on tour can be traced to the fans. In an effort to reduce the amount of CO2 released by traveling fans, REVERB works closely with groups like The Barenaked Ladies and The Dave Matthews Band to promote their Fans Carbon Offset Programs. The bands promote online awareness and encourage their fans to carpool or take advantage of public transportation whenever possible. The program will also sell eco-friendly merchandise with proceeds going towards REVERB and other eco-conscious programs.

Plastic in Concert

Do you remember the last time you went to see a band where the bar still served you a drink in a glass? How about the last concert that didn't sell water bottled in plastic? Or an outdoor festival without the ubiquitous plastic cup?

The change-over seems to have occurred sometime in the 1980’s, since I remember going to many shows in that era where the water was in fountains, the beer was in cans or glass bottles, and paper cups (albeit poly-coated, or with plastic straws and lids) were the norm. Bars that served drinks in plastic cups were rare. You could still bring a thermos to outdoor concerts, as long as it wasn't filled with alcohol. And vendors selling things like hot dogs in plastic clamshells, which they do now in many of our arenas, was unheard of.

The amount of non-recyclable plastic trash left after one Memorial Day party in my neighborhood tells me that entertainment and waste still go hand in hand, and we have a long way to go towards reducing petrochemical pollution. Plastic cups, cutlery, plates etc. are not currently recycled in this city, so the best solution for festivals and concerts is to bring your own containers or choose biodegradable alternatives. Two local examples, the annual Philadelphia Folk Festival, and the upcoming Popped Music Festival, provide water stations, so concert go-ers can fill their own bottles, instead of buying bottled water.

Getting bars, or any businesses, to comply with recycling laws has been next to impossible for the city's underfunded Streets and Walkways Education and Enforcement Program (S.W.E.E.P). But it might be getting easier, now that Mayor Nutter has appointed a new Director of Sustainability, Mark Allen Hughes. Hopefully, we will start to see more clubs sending their cans, glass, and plastic bottles to the recycling center instead of the dumpster. Unfortunately, this city still doesn't recycle plastic cups, so that problem will only be solved when clubs and bars start making more sustainable choices.

As for large arenas, Farm Aid  sets the best example nationally, consistently making strides towards reducing their environmental impact. Locally, Aramark, the food concession provider for arenas like Citizen’s Park, has unveiled their new environmental policy which includes recycling, using biodegradable cups, and recycling frying oil for biodiesel fuel. The Eagles have also switched to corn-based plastic at some of the vendors at the Linc and increased their recycling efforts as part of their larger "Go Green" plan. Let's hope this catches on at places like the Wachovia, and the Tweeter, and the Festival Pier, and The Mann... 

Musicians Who Care

It’s easy to forget that film and music have similarities. Many musicians have started their careers in film and vice versa. There’s a common thread, the understanding of a time-keeping beat. Telling a joke in a scene is the same as keeping a tune in 4/4; the only difference is in what it inevitably creates. With that knowledge, I gave myself a question: What could I learn from environmentally conscious musicians outside of this common vernacular and then apply it to the film set?

Let's start things off with Piebald. Piebald is a band I’d seen a few times in college. Though one of their albums, If It Weren’t for Venetian Blinds, It’d Be Curtains for Us All, is still in my top ten albums of all time, I really hadn’t followed them as I’d gotten older. When I did an initial search of bands going green, they were the one that first jumped out at me. Surprised, I navigated to their site, where I learned about their RV, which they had converted to run on waste vegetable oil. They have a great video that helps introduce the viewer on how an engine like that works (which is very similar to that of a diesel system). The Grease Not Gas website can further educate you as well.

As we are going to be traveling to shoot the film, this seems like an affordable way to transport our equipment to the shooting locations. Not only would it be safer for the environment, but it could save us money, a major plus when shooting an independent film. Unfortunately, Piebald recently broke up. You should still check them out though, they’re music is still awesome!

Someone else that took me by surprise were The Roots. A local hip-hop group, The Roots have their hands in many organizations, most notably with PETA. But while I couldn’t find much on their causes outside of a few, small articles tied in with their new album (which I haven't heard, but apparently has songs about the environment), I did get to stumble across this really cool site called Global Inheritance.

What’s great about Global Inheritance is they are presenting new ways to tackle activism, something I’ve lamented to a few people about recently. With times changing, a lot of the old methods of protest just don’t seem to have the same power. This site seems to realize that, offering various alternatives that get the message across while still feeling cutting edge and without condescension. While it seems to be more west coast-based, I’m hoping to hear more out of this collective, especially with their partnership with Planet Green, the new Discovery Channel which should launch in two weeks.

WEEK 5: Green Music World

With Memorial Day Weekend slowly winding down and summer about to officially start, now seems like a good time to turn our focus to musicians and the various tours and one-off concerts that happen over the summer. There's been a lot of green activity in the music world, and we think there's probably a lot for us to learn from it before we delve into planning our production.

We're going to first touch base on some bands that have made a concerted effort to spread the word on environmental awareness in their own unique ways. We'll also be checking to see what some of the bigger festival tours are doing to help off-set their carbon footprints, if they do so at all.

We'll then take a tour of Philadelphia's own big venues and rock out on Friday with some green music videos.