music to my green-ears

Just because green is a color, who says you can't hear it?

Though I'm no expert, with all of the people and products, flashy lights and booming speakers and sound systems at concerts, the high-tech process of recording, and the materials that go into the production of CDs, IPods and home-sound systems, it doesn’t seem too likely that the music industry is TrueBlue Green … or so one might think.

It turns out that its seemingly high-energy/high-emissions nature has not stopped the determined from greening the music industry. In 2006, Sub Pop records - producer of some awesome bands that I love including Fruitbats, the Postal Service, and The Shins - was the first record company to go green by offsetting all of its emissions with carbon offsets to support renewable energy solutions such as wind and solar. Green Owl Records, a new entirely green label, has initiated green changes from production to packaging and has even recently come out with a special compilation CD to benefit the Energy Action Coalition. In July 2007, the Live Earth concert series rocked out under LED lights.

But in the spirit of sustainability, the organization that really sparks my interest in green-music is an entire community of artists come to go green together. Reverb , founded by Lauren Sullivan and Adam Gardener (of Guster - another one of my all time favorites) is a non-profit organization dedicated to "educating and engaging musicians and their fans to promote environmental sustainability." They partner up with musicians to provide on-site "greening services" at concerts, set up a festival-like "eco-village" green fair at the entrance to every show, coordinate a program to offset the carbon emissions from fans' commutes.



And it's not just the Sheryl Crowe's of the world who are hopping on this green-band-wagon (but of course Sheryl is, too). Over the past year, Reverb has worked with a lot of mainstream musicians from diverse genres including Kelly Clarkson, Linkin Park, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even the show Blue Man Group. In the process, they have as of today "greened" 50 tours, 754 events, reduced 37,619 tons of CO2, and have reached their message to at least 4.6 million fans!

This to me is the most important statistic. Of course spreading the message without practicing it would be ridiculous, and this is why I love the idea that masses of people are getting this green message at actual green concerts (I still wonder how many of these musicians have minimized their exorbitant lifestyles, but at least they are starting somewhere). I especially love that these musicians' audiences are chock-full of young people, and that is where the revolution needs to take root. People emulate celebrities, and these celebrities deserve to be and should be looked up to. (Below: Guster performing in Boston.)