Eco-Tunes: Solar Power and Carbon Offsets For Music Tours and Events
Filed under: music — Michael d'Estries @ 2:36 pm
March 6th 2007
As Bob Dylan once sang, “For the times, they are a changin’.” Just as Hollywood is embracing different shades of green, the music industry is also working to improve its environmental standing. We’ve seen bands such as Guster, Barenaked Ladies, and O.A.R. transition to efficient, sustainable tours. Warner Music Group recently started using recycled paper in their disc booklets, among other green business practices. And now, a program called Eco-Tunes, hopes to take music events one step further by greening the concert and ticketing process.
From the press release,
Green Mountain Energy Company (www.greenmountain.com), the nation’s leading provider of cleaner electricity and carbon offset products, and Sustainable Waves (www.sustainablewaves.com), a national provider of mobile solar powered sound and staging solutions, have come together to create Eco-Tunessm. Eco-Tunessm is a carbon offsetting program for music tours and events, which includes the availability of solar powered stages and sound systems.”
I wonder if these are the same guys Live Earth plans on using for their solar-powered worldwide concert? I love the idea that the footprint of an event can be reduced through renewable energy. Of course, Eco-Tunes doesn’t stop there. They’re also teaming up with In Ticketing and All Access Today, to offer carbon offsets through the Be Green Ticket program. When concert-goers purchase one of these special tickets, they’re provided with 1,000 kilowatts (kWh) of Green-e certified renewable energy certificates to offset approximately 1,300 pounds of CO2. According to the release, this is equivalent to not driving a car about 1,500 miles for one year. Essentially, you’re offsetting your travel to the concert and whatever other naughty things you might do in the process.
Participating artists include Willie Nelson, Pat Green, Perpetual Groove, The Joshua Tree Music Festival, Steve Kimock, and many, many more. You can see a full list of artists on the ticketing websites above.
With options like Eco-Tunes and Reverb, bands are running out of excuses for not doing at least something to improve their green image. Don’t they know it’s now cool to rock out and save the planet?
Hey, I saw that you had mentioned offsets and I wanted to let you know that there is a new report published this last week on the offsets industry, The Carbon Neutral Myth – Offset Indulgences for your Climate Sins. Free download from http://www.tni.org
Carbon offsets are the modern day indulgences, sold to an increasingly carbon conscious public to absolve their climate sins. Scratch the surface, however, and a disturbing picture emerges, where creative accountancy and elaborate shell games cover up the impossibility of verifying genuine climate change benefits, and where communities in the South often have little choice as offset projects are inflicted on them.
This report argues that offsets place disproportionate emphasis on individual lifestyles and carbon footprints, distracting attention from the wider, systemic changes and collective political action that needs to be taken to tackle climate change. Promoting more effective and empowering approaches involves moving away from the marketing gimmicks, celebrity endorsements, technological quick fixes, and the North/South exploitation that the carbon offsets industry embodies.
Well this isnt meant to be the only answer…its meant to be a part of the solution and not the problem. However with more companies going green it will catch more public eye, and ultimately government eye. This will provoke more action towards the green movement. Every little bit helps. Its better to have this program than not…