The remaining The Greener Festival Awards for 2008 have been announced. Eight more English festivals including The Big Chill, Bestival, Summer Sundae Weekender, Shambala, Reading, Leeds, Waveform and End of the Road along with Scotland ’s Hydro Connect, Ireland ’s Electric Picnic, Portugal ’s Boom, Southbound in Australia and the Rothbury Festival in the USA have joined the illustrious list of winners for the 2008 Greener Festival Award. The first eighteen UK and International festivals were announced earlier in the summer. In the UK, recipients of the leading eco-award included Latitude, the Glastonbury Festival, the Camden Green Fair and the Cambridge Folk Festival. In the US, the Bonnaroo Festival was singled out as a ‘beacon of Read More →
ASCAP hosted the first “Thinking Green In The Music Business” meeting at their New York City offices. The goal of this seminar was to share ideas on how the music business could move toward greater eco-friendliness in both everyday practices as well as long term planning.
The guest speaker was Stefan Doering of Best Coaches Inc. and BeUnReasonable.com. Stefan works with Fortune 500 Executives, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs helping them define and achieve their sustainability goals as a master coach and has been featured on the CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, and more. He is also an instructor at Columbia University with CERC, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation; a division of the world renown, Earth Institute, teaching Environmental Intrapreneurism and Environmental Entrepreneurism.
Throughout the seminar we examined some the key dimensions of our music industry and reviewed Read More →
The American Society of Composers, Artists and Publishers (ASCAP) features a includes focused section on their website where they feature articles & interviews while highlighting what ASCAP artists are doing to do their part in being green.
The 2008 Live Earth Concert will be hosted in Mumbai, India on December 7, 2008.
“Live Earth’s mission is to cultivate grassroots and worldwide awareness of and solutions for environmental issues that affect us all. Awareness activates change and important issues deserve a global platform,” said Kevin Wall, founder of Live Earth. “That’s why the stage for Live Earth India will host some of the biggest artists from India to the U.S. and beyond, while we bring India to the world. And the world has a lot to learn from traditional Indian culture about sustainability.”
“India will be among the leading powers of the global economy in the coming decades,” said Gore. “As a democracy that is looked up to by many nations, especially for its commitment to inclusive growth for its diverse peoples, India has a major role to play in leadership by example for the climate crisis and sustainable development. Kevin and I are honored to bring Live Earth to India.”
Keeping in line with their green message the event will follow the “Green Policy” established in the original Live Earth event:
The Live Earth production team will implement the Live Earth Green Event Guidelines developed for the first Live Earth Concerts for a Climate in Crisis which took place on 07.07.07. The Guidelines address the major areas of impact of live events, including recycling, food and beverages, packaging, transportation, energy, water usage, and the event site itself. From power generation at the concert to garbage generated by concert goers, Live Earth will seek to design out waste and continue to be the model for future live entertainment, while bringing new sustainable event production techniques to India.
Music Matters is a small, Minneapolis-based, marketing firm aiming to help musicians do good to reduce the negative environmental impact of music industry operations by working with artists, tours, venues and festivals.
So what is “doing good” according to Music Matters…
Waste less - Be more energy efficient and reduce, reuse or recycle waste.
Cool down - Reduce CO2 emissions and offset what can’t be reduced.
Choose wisely - Select eco-friendly goods and services (cost-effectively through our vendor partners).
Spread the word - Communicate actions to fans, clients, and the media – and inspire their action.
… we at the Green Music Alliance agree with their philosophies and actions… and so do Rolling Stone, Billboard and The New York Times in their write-ups about this good-doing startup.
Touring and Festivals remain one of the most important “green challenges” in the music industry. Many reputable bands and festivals have made progress over the years in solving the problems related to these large events from recycling to energy consumption to fan transportation. The Bumbershoot Festival strives to be green along many dimensions and provides resourcs to help others “Green Your Festival.”
From their “green page” on their site:
For nearly four decades Bumbershoot has strived to be a socially responsible and environmentally friendly Festival. As a uniquely urban event nestled in the Pacific Northwest, one of the nation’s greenest locales, Bumbershoot maintains a reputation as a trendsetter within the festival industry.
Visit these links on the Bumbershoot site to get more ideas on Greening Your Festival…
Back in November of 2006 Green Day and the National Resource Defense Counsel (NRDC) announced a major campaign, Move America Beyond Oil, to mobilize and empower music fans to demand clean, renewable energy solutions that break our dangerous dependence on oil.
The official Green Day + NRDC site shows fans how to take action. Check out the You Tube video below to hear from the band about being part of the solution:
On August 18, 2008 Green Day announced a photo contest on their MySpace page asking fans to take photos of themselves taking action. From the page…
We want to create a new photo album, and we want your help. Send us a photo of yourself taking action to help the environment… a photo of you taking public transportation, checking the air pressure in your tires, picking up trash some idiot left on the beach… be creative. Show us how YOU protect the environment.
The prizes: A promo photograph signed by Green Day and an Adeline pack (This goes to our favorite photo!)
On Monday, July 14, twenty-nine national thought leaders in business, community development, the arts, and the environment gathered to lay the groundwork for arts action in the resolution of environmental issues.
“How can environmental organizations work with arts organizations to serve their purposes?”
Facilitator: Eric Friedenwald Fishman, Metropolitan Group
Chris Velasco, PLACE
Khulapat Yantrasast, architect
To view more results and segments from the summit visit the Summit Results Page.
Kyocera Wireless and SPIN are calling all environmentally conscious music lovers to share their plans, tips, tricks and success stories for helping our planet. With the “Rock Out: Be Green and Be Seen” contest, eco-friendly music fans can win an expense-paid trip with VIP access to the Virgin Mobile Festival on August 9-10 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Festival will be headlined by Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Kanye West and more.
The contest asks hopeful festival-goers to share their best ideas,thoughts and creative input into helping protect the environment. Entries can be made at www.spin.com and www.kyocera-wireless.com/vest from June 25 - July 14 and a winner will be announced the week of July 21. Visit http://www.virginmobilefestival.com/ for more on the festival.
There is much talk about biodiesel buses and the sustainability of tours, but these factors which are in the band’s control are just part of the picture. The largest carbon footprnt impact is from the fans commuting to the live events along a tour.
Larger tours are trying to address this concern with ideas such as the Coachella AMTRACK Express train used in Las Angeles to use of PickupPal carpooling by masses of fans.
PickupPal is working with the low-carbon-footprint-minded tour company Portland-based Reverb to extend their services to tour-going fans across the U.S including The Dave Matthews Band who is using them for their full 40-city tour. Barenaked Ladies and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are some of the other acts that have used Reverb’s services, which include reducing waste, getting biodiesel for tour buses and purchasing carbon offsets.
PickupPal is a new very web 2.0 online service that links eco-minded drivers with people who need a lift with the aim of minimizing everyone’s carbon footprint. On their website they have a CO2 emissions calculator which reads nearly 375,000 lbs of CO2 avoided.
Here’s a somewhat-cheesy clip showing how this service works:
