Green Music Alliance [Sustainability, Environmentalism, Green, Music, Business, Fans, Musicians, Artists, Education, Awareness, Resources] » Festivals

Project 30-90 Green Art and Music Festival takes center stage Sept 5th in New Orleans… just before the unofficial end of summer

Armando — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:42:48 +0000

Just when you thought this year’s festival season was nearly over, a few festivals with green awareness goals remain. The Project 30-90 Green Art and Music Festival on Saturday, September 5th in New Orleans is one. As they outline on their Green page, they have an eye on many of the key elements required to minimize the environmental impact of a music festival including the challenges with power, trash, transportation and merchandise. Additionally, they have an education goal and are including educational and non-profit organizations in their vendor village. Music festivals have the power to raise awareness and provide music fans with the information they need to live “more green” lives.

From the Project 30-90 site:

Project 30-90 is an environmentally conscious music festival being held in New Orleans on September 5, 2009. Our stages will be run on solar and wind turbine power, we’ll offer paperless green tickets, recycling, carbon offsets and more. Put simply, we are going to rock your world and leave no carbon footprint behind.

Project 30-90 Founder Don Kelly speaks on who and how he selected the bands that are playing at the inaugural 30-90 Festival:

The Saturday music line-up starts at 3pm…

Music Schedule

Gates open (2:00)

Generationals (3:00 – 3:45)

MyNameIsJohnMichael (4:00 – 4:45)

Jason Isbell & 400 Unit (5:15 – 6:10)

Charlie Mars (6:30 – 7:20)

Benjy Davis Project (7:45 – 8:45)

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (9:15 – 10:15)

Ghostland Observatory (10:45 – 12:00 Midnight)

Green Music Fest Chicago showcases more than green music

Armando — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:40:33 +0000

With an estimated attendance of 10,000+ on the Woodstock 40th Anniversary weekend, the Green Music Fest in Chicago aims to be a blast while also showcasing environmentally friendly products and services. Taking place on Saturday August 15th and Sunday August 16th in Chicago’s Eckhart Park (1330 W. Chicago Avenue).

Vendors will be exclusively green or eco-friendly, whether selling crafts made with recycled materials or techie gadgets made with green components.

The City of Chicago Department of Environment’s Chicago Center for Green Technology is sponsoring the green section of the event with an estimated 60-plus green vendors. Tickets are still available, so visit the official site for more details.

Woodstock, the mother of music festivals, turns 40

Armando — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:23:29 +0000

The weekend of August 15, 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. There were plans to host a free anniversary event New York City’s Prospect Park and Berlin’s former Templehof Airport, but due to lack of sponsorship and funding they just could not pull it off.

In an age of mega festivals, many of which are making efforts to be green (see previous posts on Green Music Alliance), it is too bad that this one could not happen. With locations in two very populated cities the organizers would have tackled one of festivals biggest green challenges — getting the people to the grounds.

You can read up quite a bit about the anniversary and where the original artists are today on Treehugger. CBSNews also has a full feature section with videos and photo galleries.

Unlocking Sustainability in the Music Business

Armando — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:19:41 +0000

Article courtesy of Planetwize.

What do steel, rubber factories, mechanics, gas pumps, freeways, and Detroit have in common? They all play a part in the ‘technological lock-in’ – as the academics say – of a less-than-green American car culture.

The music business, it seems, is locked in to huge stages, bright lights, semi-trucks, tour busses, jewel cases, power-hungry analog equipment and, perhaps most challenging, millions and millions of miles driven by fans to catch the show.

The notoriously resistant-to-change industry, however, is greening up, as more bands and fans take action to reduce their impact.

On The Road Again

Driven by economics and environmentalism, many bands are converting their tour vans to run on vegetable oil. For bands that can’t afford their own veggie rig, GreenVans, a greasy green venture started by musicians, outfits touring bands with rental Ford E-350 vans converted to run on vegetable oil, and claims to help bands save both money and the planet.

“The nature of a band is to travel— touring is the major part of our business. This is a great way to reduce the carbon footprint from our bus, as well as help our business survive in a time of skyrocketing gas prices,” said Shaun Dolan, manager for neo-jamgrass-gypsy rockers, Blue Turtle Seduction, who travel in a veggie van. Other indy bands burning the grease include Pictures and Sound, The Ragbirds, and Mojave, just to name a few.

Willie Nelson, FarmAid President of the Board and American musical treasure, so enjoyed filling his tour buses with biodiesel that he started his own brand, BioWillie, which we covered here. These efforts by bands – both big and small - help to take a little petroleum out of the national tour.

Toward a Greener Music Collection

There is also progress on the consumer side of music. Claims that digital music is greener than CDs are somewhat dubious, given the coal-powered servers that deliver digital content; the toxicity of MP3 players; and the fact that people buy more blank CDs to burn digital music. For greener CD production, Earthology Records and Oasis are just two manufactures using recycled paper and plastic, soy-based inks, and local production to minimize the environmental impact of physical CDs.

Studios, labels, and managers are also pushing the green agenda. Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records is a solar-powered studio built with reclaimed lumber, and Green Owl Records, part of Warner Music Group, was founded on the idea that “great music can be sustainable—both economically and environmentally.” The Rosebud Agency in San Francisco, which manages acts including JJ Cale, Bill Frisell, and the Refugee Allstars, bills itself as the music industry’s first solar-powered facility. Even instrument makers are taking steps toward sustainability, a movement led by guitar maker Gibson, which we wrote about here.

Festivals and the Carbon Equation

The big U.S. music festivals of 2009: Bonnaroo, Rothbury, Outside Lands, Bumbershoot - all featured numerous greening initiatives, from carbon offsets and compostable utensils, to rideshare networks, solar stages, and biodiesel generators. While these efforts help to spread awareness and reduce waste, it’s the music-lovers driving across the country in search of the ultimate set that present the biggest challenge to promoters’ aspirations for sustainable festivals.

Reverb, a non-profit outfit founded by Guster guitarist/vocalist Adam Gardner, estimates that 80% of a concert’s CO2 footprint is from the fans’ commute. In addition to helping green the summer tours of Phish, Coldplay, and John Legend, Reverb is working with the Dave Matthews Band to educate fans on environmental sustainability, and has coordinated an ‘Eco Ridshare’ program to reduce concert miles driven.

At the recent Wanderlust Festival in the mountains of California, Reverb was onsite selling raffle tickets, with proceeds helping to purchase carbon offsets through Native Energy, a wind power provider working on Native American lands. This was Reverb’s way of giving fans an optional way to neutralize their travel. According to Steffan Lesard, bassist for the Dave Matthews Band, the band and Reverb offset over 3 million pounds of CO2 during DMB’s 2008 tour. That’s the equivalent of one year’s emissions from over a half-a-million cars, and a good start down the road toward sustainability.

BuFest Green Music Festival in Malibu, California

Armando — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:38:20 +0000

The BuFest Green Music Festival is scheduled for May 30 & 31, 2009 with tickets on sale starting February 10th. Over 50 artists are expected to perform including Reel Big Fish, Unwritten Law, Eve 6, MXPX, Butch Walker, Meiko, The Dreaming and more. The Green Living Expo is one of the BuFest sponsors.

BuFest™ strives to insure we have zero impact upon the environment. In addition to biodegradable and recycled supplies, BuFest™ uses the most technologically advanced generators and materials to make certain we have the lowest carbon output possible. We support The Green Living Expo’s held throughout the nation as a way to educate the public about ways they can “Go Green.”

Coachella 2009 Tickets On Sale

Armando — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:01:33 +0000

Coachella with its great 2009 lineup is scheduled for April 17, 18 and 19th. 3-day passes are $269 and single day passes $99. To reduce the environmental impact of this event Coachella encourges you to use PickupPal to arrange a carpool or donate seats in your car. Also, they provide recycling via their 10 for 1 program where attendees receive a free bottle of water for every 10 they bring to recycle. They are teaming up with Global Inheritance for this service and Coachella will have their TRASHed recycling program again this year.

Greener Festival Awards 2008… The Rothbury Festival & Bonnaroo Recognized

Armando — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:20:54 +0000

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 excellence’ and in Australia three festivals, Falls Festival, West Coast Blues & Roots and Bluesfest all received the Greener Festival Award. All Awards will be confirmed at the UK Festival Awards which will be held on October 30th in London.

About The Greener Festival Awards…

In 2008 the festivals granted the Greener Festival Award will be expected to both promote and implement environmental sustainability and environmental efficiency. A festival granted the Award would be expected to have a high degree to commitment to sustainability and have environmentally friendly practices. A Festival granted the Award must have the following evidenced before being considered for the Award.

(a) Event Management: a comprehensive environmental policy must be evidenced as must environmental planning including an environmental impact analysis for the festival. The festival would have at least one person of management grade responsible for environmental issues.

(b) Office and administration: The festival must have awareness of the environmental impact of the festival’s supply chain which must be managed to reduce the festival’s environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions. The festival must show sustainable office practices including a ’switch off and save’ policy, office recycling (including IT) and a commitment to public transport for staff.

(c) Travel & Transport: If the event is a greenfield or ‘out of town’ site the festival must have a comprehensive transport and travel policy and part of that policy must be to promoting public transport and/or lift share and the festival must show ways in which this is achieved. In the absence of this, a carbon offsetting scheme for public travel might be acceptable in 2008. If the festival is town centre or similar the festival must still have a traffic and travel policy and practices relevant to the event itself.

(d) CO2 emissions: The festival must have an awareness of green energy – and must aspire to switch to greener energy tariffs or better still 100% sustainable energy sourcing for all office activities. Festivals must have conducted or be conducting a CO2 footprint analysis for the event and have both long and short term plans to reduce CO2 (and other greenhouse gas) emissions having a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable energy sources. In the absence of the forgoing in 2008 a carbon offsetting scheme would usually not be acceptable.

(e) Waste management: The festival must recycle at least 30% of paper/card, cans, plastics and glass generated on-site. All on-site caterers would be expected to use biodegradable cups, plates and utensils. A cup deposit or other similar scheme for any plastics or glass cups on-site would usually be necessary.

(f) Water management: An awareness of water conservation and/or sewage issues should be evidenced. The event should promote water conservation and where practicable promote the use of grey water.

(g) Local environment: The festival must evidence an awareness of the practical protection of the environment and must have liaised with the local authority and local wildlife groups to minimise environmental damage. (h) Noise: The festival must be committed to reducing noise pollution.

Live Earth India To Rock The Planet on Dec 7, 2008

Armando — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:00:24 +0000

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.

Learn more on the Live Earth Site.