Ecorazzi

For last year’s 2007 Summer Tour, the Dave Matthews Band partnered up with green org Reverb to lighten their impact on the planet and get others involved. “We had two main goals with the greening of this tour,” says DMB bassist Stefan Lessard. “Shrink our environmental footprint as much as possible, and bring a message to our fans that we all can do something good for the environment and have fun doing it.” What were the results of DMB going green last year? Here are the numbers:

“Reverb calculates a total of over 3,300,000 pounds of CO2 reduced or eliminated on tour through the use of biodiesel and carbon offsets alone. This is equivalent to removing over 190 homes from the power grid for a year, or not burning 171,000 gallons of gasoline. Over one third of this carbon reduction is a direct result of fan participation in the Reverb Fan Carbon Offset Program, where concertgoers neutralized the CO2 from over 1,200,000 miles of driving to and from shows.”

For 2008, the group will be continuing with last year’s initiatives (eco-village outside the concert, biodiesel for tour buses, offsets, recycling, organic, local food, etc.) and adding a few new twists. For instance, coming soon online, DMB will launch a carpooling service for fans going to and from concerts. Not only will this save fuel, but it will also reduce emissions and traffic. Additionally, there will be an eco-footprint reduction contest enabling fans to easily track and minimize their own environmental impact. Said Reverb Co-founder and Director Lauren Sullivan. “Now that we know just how environmentally committed the fans are, we’re really looking forward to setting the bar even higher for 2008.”

For more info, check out Reverb’s official DMB site.