In celebration of Earth Day, thegreen.gather.com, invites you to a special event TODAY.
Please join us here from 5 to 6PM ET to discuss the progress we have made towards protecting the environment. From 5 to 5:30PM, we will be joined by special guests, musician Adam Gardner and his wife Lauren Sullivan. Adam is a guitarist and vocalist for the band Guster. Together, Adam and Lauren are changing the concert experience through their organization Reverb, which provides green options for touring musicians and their audiences.
Reverb educates and engages musicians and their fans to promote environmental sustainability. Gardner and Reverb have helped green 50 major rock tours and over 750 events since forming in 2004 including Dave Matthews Band, Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Reverb has recently begun work with the Warner Music Group to help them with energy efficiency and carbon neutrality. WMG released it's first carbon neutral CD with Guster last year and offset the band's entire catalogue (over 1 million copies) in addition to neutralizing emissions from office space and employee travel.
This summer, Reverb is slated to green the tours of John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson to name a few.
Following our chat with Adam and Lauren, we will hold an open forum for Gather members to discuss ways their families, friends, and communities are helping the environment.
If you can't make the chat, please post a question for Adam and Lauren
in the comment field below.
Adam and Lauren will be featured on "Big Idea for a Small Planet", Tuesday, April 22nd @ 9PM ET on the Sundance Channel. Click here to see a video of this upcoming episode.
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Oasis Manufacturing has been a leader in the "greening" of the music industry as well -- earth-friendly packaging for CDs, for example, which is the way I'd go if I were planning to create a CD or DVD of any sort.
I hope there will be a good listing of ideas, suggestions, and advice that even local musicians can refer to in making choices. Most of us do plan out several gigs along a route to minimize gas usage, but I'm sure that's just the beginning.
Jennifer Hodge sort of stole my question, but I'll rephrase to try sounding reasonably intelligent: What sort of things can you do for a music tour to be more "green" and what real environmental effect results?
Please welcome to Gather Adam Gardner! We look forward to spending the next half hour with you as you answer Gather member questions about your organization Reverb and its impact on the environment, as well as the music community.
Adam, let's start off with a question from Jennifer. She asks:
I would love to know what the impetus was behind creating Reverb. It's such a fantastic idea and it is great to see more and more artists embrace the green approach. Can you also talk a little bit about the difference between the carbon footprint of a Reverb tour and a non Reverb tour?
Lauren: Now that you have tackled eco-touring, how do you plan on tackling an eco-baby? Are you planning on using cloth diapers, organic cotten onesies, etc?
Adam: Of course, Guster related... what is the voice saying in the background of your song "The Captain"?
oops, I just saw that Lauren is sick. Hopefully Adam can answer both and send her my wishes for a speedy recovery.
We also do fan outreach at the shows and on line through an Eco-Village and a dedicated band greening website.
Reverb is currently working on Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Panic At the Disco, Blue Man Group, and Cloud Cult. This summer we will be working with John Mayer, Dave MAtthews Band, Maroon 5 and Counting Crows.
What factor do you think makes the biggest difference in "greening" a music tour?
Peace and Love
Adam, it's interesting to see what you are doing to lessen the footprint left by touring musicians. As one who has used rideshare for the last ten years, I think the carpooling idea is a very good one. I work in film and several of the companies are developing ideas to reduce wasteful practices. Practical solutions, even small ones, can lead to great change when added together.
Thanks to The Green Moderator for facilitating this conversation. I enjoyed reading this transcript and hope to participate in the next green chat.
Best wishes to Adam and Lauren and your new baby.