I missed a brilliant interview Grist had with Jason Mraz last month — but in retro, it’s kind of cool to approach it after reading the musician’s recent dive into the vegan and raw foods scene. This is truly someone who is in transition from knowing nothing about sustainability at all, to embracing, learning, and championing its cause. Here are some highlights: 

On polluted beaches and becoming inspired to help:

I started spending every morning at my local beach. And on days when it rains, we usually have to spend anywhere from a day to three days — four days on a hard rain — outside of the water because the coastline is so fucked up. [The coastlines are] just so polluted that you’ll get sick. And it made me realize, we are some dirty people. Humans are becoming a bacteria over the surface, and I want to do what we can to clean this up. So I joined the Surfrider Foundation and wanted to give my attention, give my time, give my money to an organization that’s protecting our coastline.  

On those he respects working to reduce the impact of music on the environment: 

Certainly Guster for what they were doing — Adam [Gardner, Guster guitarist/singer], for starting Reverb with his wife. For someone who spends a lot of time on the road and realizes, “Hey, we can do this — it’d be easy to do this.” Definitely can respect that. 

I love the idea of what Jack Johnson did with his studio, running it off of solar energy and wind energy and building a studio right in the middle of L.A. out of all-recycled materials: recycled wood and the walls are stuffed with used pairs of blue jeans as sound baffling. Saving money and using old parts to put that together, I can most certainly respect that.

For the full interview, jump here. Also — be sure to check out the 100% bamboo t-shirt company that Mraz started with two friends called Blend Apparel. 

Categories: Music
Tags: adam gardner, jack johnson, jason mraz.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

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