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June 18th 2008

Jason Mraz On Reverb, Polluted Beaches, And Jack Johnson’s Solar Studio

Filed under: interviews, music — michael @ 11:39 am

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. 

December 7th 2007

Gardner, Panettiere Hook Up With The Weather Channel

Filed under: events: DC, green and famous — michael @ 9:56 am

Hayden Panettiere is in Washington, DC this week speaking at the Forecast Earth Summit by The Weather Channel”. The activist/actress will present on her involvement with the organization Save The Whales and the Declare Yourself to vote initiative. From JustJared,

“Created by The Weather Channel, the Forecast Earth Summit will focus on environmental education and provide interaction with numerous environmental leaders, enthusiasts and scientists. The Weather Channel recently announced the group of 22 high school “eco-ambassadors” selected through a nationwide essay contest to showcase their passion for helping the environment. The 22 winning students, representing 14 states, will participate in the upcoming Forecast Earth Summit.”

Joining Panettiere will be Guster singer — and creator of Reverb — Adam Gardner. The rock star will talk about his involvement on greening more than 650 concert events and 45 major tours. The summit starts today and will run through Sunday.