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From Greening To Sustainability: Shifting The Debate

It’s important to remember that there is no right or wrong here – there are only decisions to be made. We are all learning how to incorporate sustainability into our work. But what does that mean?

In the most basic sense, sustainability requires us all to consider the impact our actions and decisions have on present and future generations. Here at ATC, we are firm believers that sustainability requires us all to consider both the environmental AND the social implications of our actions, while continually striving to look at how the two are interconnected.

Another thing that we have come to realize is that greening your tour is not always enough. To us, the term “greening” makes it sound like an after-thought. We prefer the term “sustainable-touring” as it implies a way of touring that isn’t a passing fad but more of a way of life. Despite all of the talk about the negative effects of touring and live events, we look at touring as a unique and vital way to connect with people and promote social change. We want to think not just about lessening the ecological impact of touring, but also increasing the social impact that it can have. And we know that there is a lot more we can all do to achieve both. We’re here to help and your feedback and requests are important to us. Please email us with any and all comments.

The Big Question: What Are Your Goals?

Before moving forward, perhaps it is best to take a step back and think about why you or your artists want to “go green” in the first place. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are some of the major goals that many artists look to achieve through their sustainable touring efforts:

  • Be environmentally friendly
  • Reduce carbon emissions
  • Have a positive impact on climate change
  • Raise awareness among fans
  • Support renewable and alternative energies
  • Reduce waste
  • Promote recycling
  • Encourage change
  • Increase the efficiency of touring
  • Support more sustainable lifestyles

It takes a very dedicated and determined person and/or group to tackle all of these goals at once, many choose to pick ones based on the best information we have.

That being said, here are some areas we recommend focusing on:

Reduce Your Tour's Environmental Footprint

Your Fans

Transportation of fans to and from each show accounts for a tour’s LARGEST impact on the environment. Decreasing the number of cars traveling to your show will go a long way towards reducing the negative impact of your tour as a whole. Here are some ideas of how you can do this:

  • Strongly promote and encourage use of public transportation.
    • Include price of public transit in cost of ticket.
    • Work with venues and promoters to ensure there is at least one public transportation option for every show you do.
  • Mobilize fan base and concertgoers to carpool by offering preferred parking or other incentives. PickupPal is an online carpool service that works directly with artists on carpooling for their tours. They can provide a co-branded webpage specific to a particular tour.
  • Provide bike racks if cycling to the event is possible, or team with a bike advocacy organization to provide a bike-check station at the show and/or to organize community bike rides to the show.

Your Travel

Many opportunities exist to activate change and reduce the overall footprint of your tour:

  • Tour planning
    • Work with your booking agent or DriveNeutral to route your tour in the most efficient way possible. This includes taking the shortest routes possible between city stops and the elimination of backtracking.
  • Keep flying to a minimum, as it has the highest climate impact of any form of transportation.
    • When you have to fly, do it during the day whenever possible as studies have shown that night flights release more emissions.
  • Consolidate the number of trucks and buses on your tour as much as possible.
  • Stay at hotels that promote sustainable practices. The Green Hotels Association maintains a list of hotels that have pledged to conserve resources and increase energy efficiency
  • Use trucking, busing and van rental companies with sustainable policies:
    • Bandago rents full-size vans and specializes in renting to musicians. The company has purchased carbon offsets through DriveNeutral for its entire fleet of 15-passenger vans and diesel Sprinters. The Sprinters can also run on most readily available biofuels (see our section on the issues surrounding biofuels below), and features LCD screens, game systems, iPod support, separate cargo holds and more. Bandago seems to embrace learning to do green touring better, so as vehicles and fuels become more readily available, these folks will be figuring out how to make them more available to the music community.
    • Upstaging, Inc are currently the only industry trucking company to have every tractor equipped with an APU.
  • Follow Radiohead’s lead and telecommute for late night talk show performances and/or one-off appearances, where artist’s are shot exclusively for a TV audience anyway.

Your Show And Venue

Many bands are formalizing their environmental requirements of venues in “eco-riders”. Some promoters are also initiating environmental protection programs. Here is a list of some of the things that you can require:

  • Choose centrally located venues accessible by public transit.
  • Request local and organically produced food for backstage.
  • Set a zero waste goal:
    • Recycle and/or compost all event-related waste.
    • Rock & Wrap it Up is a nonprofit specializing in the collection & donation of backstage items such as: leftover catering, toiletries from hotel rooms, and single-use batteries.
  • Concessions:
    • Use biodegradable cups, plates and containers.
    • Establish a strong recycling presence for paid concessions.
    • Encourage concertgoers to bring their own bottles and provide free refills to reduce packaging waste.
  • Encourage venues to use LED lighting for stages and energy efficient lighting in general.
  • If your event is outside, produce it during the day to reduce energy consumption.
  • Use sustainable music equipment:
    • Music Wood: This organization is a Greenpeace special campaign and is partnering with the music industry to protect threatened forest habitats and safeguard the future of the trees critical to making musical instruments. Music Wood has partnered with the major guitar and instrument manufacturers including Fender and Gibson to dialogue and move the campaign forward. Artists can learn more about the issues surrounding the production of wood instruments and partner with the campaign.
    • Mada Guitars: Produces semi-acoustic guitars made from hemp pulp.
    • First Act Musical Instruments: Eco-friendly electric guitars.
  • Hold a phone recycling drive at your show and donate them to the Cell Phone Bank.

MusicMatters has done a lot of work with artists to incorporate environmental requirements into their riders. We can put you in contact with them directly for more info or for a sample of an eco-rider that artists have used before.

Your Marketing

Producing marketing materials provides a number of opportunities to make sustainable decisions:

  • Produce all materials and signage with ecologically friendly materials.
  • Merchandise
    • Use organic cotton shirts or shirts made from fibers such as bamboo, hemp, and soy.
    • Plan ahead and limit excess overnight shipping of t-shirts and other merchandising products to venues.
  • Packaging of products
    • Eliminate plastic packaging and wrapping whenever possible.
    • Use eco-packs and digipacks when distributing CDs, which can be made from biodegradable, recycled or recyclable materials and printed with vegetable inks. Ekodisk, Groove House, Triple Disc, and Disc Makers are just a few companies that provide these services.

Carbon Emissions And Offsetting

While offsets can be part of a comprehensive solution, they should not be seen as a substitute for changing behavior. Climate change is not a problem we can buy our way out of, so the most important step is for everyone to begin consuming a lot less. So before you offset, ATC encourages you to exhaust all other carbon reduction activities.

If and when you seek to buy offsets for what you cannot reduce, make sure any offset you buy is well researched and verified by a third party. Three recognized certifying organizations are:

Even if the offsets are certified by one of these parties you still need to be cautious of the types you buy. Forestry or tree planting offsets have recently garnered a significant amount of debate and are probably best to avoid. (Greenpeace, for example, does not support the use of forestry offsets.) A recent NY Times article describes some of the problems with carbon offsetting.

ATC believes that carbon offsetting should always focus on achieving emission reduction first--via energy efficiency and conservation, technology, process reengineering, green building and other better practices and only then should we offset what can’t be reduced.

Artist Recommended Offset Providers:

NativeEnergy is a for-profit group that develops new renewable energy projects that benefit Native Americans, family farmers, and municipalities. They have offset a number of artist's tours and have a specific team dedicated to working with the music community. Please let us know if you would like their direct contact info.

BeGreen is the carbon offset division of Green Mountain Energy Company, the longest serving green power provider in the U.S. They have also created methodology behind carbon neutral tours and festivals and have worked with a number of artists. In addition, BeGreen offers a "green" ticketing option that allows concert-goers to minimize the environmental impact of traveling to concerts and festivals.

DriveNeutral specializes in reducing emissions (planning the shortest possible route, using the most efficient vehicles, and using better burning fuel) to cut down on carbon emissions on the front-end. Then offsets the rest.

The most important thing to recognize is that greenhouse gas concentrations are already too high. This means that the ultimate goal of sustainable touring should be to go carbon negative, not carbon neutral. If you’re carbon neutral, then you’re just not adding to the problem. If you are carbon negative, then you’ve become part of the solution.

Raise Awareness

Call it awareness offsetting. While everybody has to make their own very personal decisions as to how strongly they want to support any cause, sometimes the best thing we can do is simply to talk about it. Not everybody has the opportunity to communicate to an audience as often and as powerfully as touring artists.

  • Point fans and press towards resources and organizations that address the issues you care about.
  • Use your website or social networking sites to begin conversations, announce efforts, request help.
  • Be sure to let ATC know when you run into or test new ideas/solutions so we can share your experiences with other artists.

Invest In Alternative Energies

If you have the ability to invest or donate funds towards alternative energies, like any other investment – invest wisely. Many of the solutions being discussed right now are good short-term solutions, but may have a counterproductive effect on the development of real, long-term solutions. We strongly recommend investing in long-term solutions. Here are a couple of articles on some of the current trends in alternative energy investing, as well as some sites you can visit for more in depth information:

General Clearinghouses:

Biodiesel And The Liquid Fuel Dilemma

Biodiesel has played a huge part in the evolution of the green touring movement. However, recent studies have shown that not all biodiesels are created equal—and some, such as those made from edible sources like soy, may be resulting in higher food prices worldwide.

While this impact has not been felt in developed countries like the U.S., it is putting a huge strain on poor people in developing countries. For this reason, it has become increasingly hard for us to support the use of some types of biodiesel that are currently available.

Additionally, there are some environmental and social justice issues surrounding the biofuels industry in general and, in good conscience, we are unable to support many of the gasoline alternatives currently being promoted. Click here to download our full report of the current issues surrounding biofuels.

Our recommendations: In regard to how to approach the liquid fuel dilemma, we recommend two courses of action. First, fuel choice should be one of a long list of environmental activities that bands implement, not the single solution. If you choose to use biodiesel, ensure that it is from sustainable sources. If you choose to use petroleum-based diesel, invest the money you save in things like residential energy-efficiency in low-income communities or promising new technologies like microalgae biodiesel.

(Click here to learn more about some of the current issues surrounding biofuels.)

Renewable Energy Certificates

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) allow one to invest in renewable technologies like wind and solar. Many people confuse them with offsets, but in actuality they are two separate things. RECs promote alternative energy by making them more economically feasible. If the goal is to support alternative energies, this may be the best route to pursue.

Just like offsets, make sure whatever RECs you purchase are regulated and verified by a third party. Green-e also does REC verification.

Walk The Walk

Beyond the time you spend on the road, there are a lot of steps we should all be taking to make our lifestyles more sustainable.

At Home

  • Make your homes as energy efficient as possible:
  • Minimize your driving.
  • Purchase renewable energy to power your home if it is available in your area or buy RECs if it is not.
  • Turn down the heat a couple of degrees and put on a sweater.
  • Invest in home solar or wind systems and start getting off the grid.
  • Recycle!

At The Office

  • Work to make management offices as energy efficient as possible:
  • The Green Office is a one-stop resource for sustainable office products, services, tools, and information including a full selection of sustainable office supplies, and both sustainability consulting and carbon offsetting for businesses.
  • Use teleconferencing for meetings rather than travel whenever possible.
    • Skype, iChat, Google Talk are some good examples, just to name a few.
  • Purchase renewable energy to power your office if it is available in your area or buy RECs if it is not.
  • Turn down the heat a couple of degrees and put on a sweater.
  • Use recycled paper and always make double sided copies.
  • Recycle!
  • Encourage carpools, use of public transit, bikes.
    • Provide transit passes or subsidize bike purchases.

One Stop Shops

These are providers who are full-service: they will create a soup-to-nuts strategy for your tours. There are also other providers that specialize in specific services. Below is a list of some organizations and companies that are recommended by artists that we work with. For each organization you will see links to their site but we encourage you to give us a call if you are interested in finding out more. ATC has spoken with each group and can connect you directly with the people you should talk to. Please note that many of their special services are not listed on their site.

MusicMatters “reduces negative environmental impact of tours while building industry-wide resources”. MusicMatters has initiated SMART, a formal, artist-driven coalition to help get the infrastructure in place in the music industry to make green touring easier. They provide deep greening consultations & certification, share information, and push for industry change. They’ve been doing environmental work around the music community for decades. There isn’t much on their website about SMART. Let us know and we can put you in touch the right people there.

Reverb is a nonprofit organization that offers a full range of green touring, fan education and green business services, some of which are at no additional cost to the artists. Adam from Guster and his wife Lauren, who worked for Rainforest Action Network, founded the organization with the idea that it be both artist-friendly and high-impact. Reverb has worked with John Mayer, The Fray, Norah Jones, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Kelly Clarkson, Ben Folds, Dispatch and Guster.

Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) is a nonprofit that offers services ranging from green touring to investing in renewable energy projects on the behalf of artists. They offer Green e-certified wind and solar energy from locations across North America. BEF also works to promote its green partners including PR and onsite outreach. They have extensive experience in working with the music industry including Sub Pop Records, Farm Aid 2006, Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival 2006 & 2007, Sheryl Crow 2007, Vote for Change Concert Tour (Bonnie Raitt, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, REM), Rolling Stones Concert- “Turn Up the Heat on Global Warming” and others.

Clif Bar, the nutrition bar company provides “green grants,” plans and other assistance to help artists reduce their environmental impact as they tour, and engage their fans on environmental issues. They have worked with John Butler Trio, Martin Sexton and Xavier Rudd, amongst others.

Links And Resources

GREENER AIRLINES BY ATC (PDF FORMAT - 124.53 Kb)
Research on airlines with environmentally sustainable policies and practices.
Posted 7/25/2008

TIPS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE TOUR BY ATC (pdf format - 107.32 Kb)
A quick and prioritized list of how to make your tour more environmentally sustainable based on ATC's collected knowledge and valuable “lessons learned” from a variety of artists, industry leading experts and organizations that have been implementing sustainability into concerts, festivals and tours. Posted 3/4/2009