Great “Green” Initiative: Reverb Takes Green to the Tour Bus

Wednesday, 10/21/2009

Eco-friendly initiatives are extremely popular these days – between using reusable shopping bags, adding fluorescent lights or unplugging unused appliances, there are so many small things we can do every day to make a difference. But how do you implement that on a larger mobile scale?

That’s exactly the question Adam Gardner, guitarist and lead vocalist of the band Guster and his wife, environmentalist Laura Sullivan sought to answer. The result was Reverb – a non-profit company that “greens” music tours. Reverb has worked with the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Kelly Clarkson, John Mayer and more to implement eco-friendly initiatives on their national tours.  Reverb looks at every facet of a tour from fueling tour buses with bio-diesel, to eliminating waste to creating full-blown recycling programs in concert venues that do not already have them. They strive to make each tour carbon neutral and eco-friendly.

Reverb also hopes to connect with the artists’ fans while on tour. At every venue, they set up an “eco village,” a festival-like atmosphere that includes non-profit groups, eco-friendly sampling, green technology and more. Reverb says 80% of a tour’s carbon footprint is caused by fans’ commutes to the shows. Reverb’s network of volunteers educates fans with simple ways to help neutralize that carbon. For example, the Bare Naked Ladies’ fans off-set over 8.5 million miles of driving through the fan offset program in just 6 months.

The results are staggering. Over the past 4 years Reverb has greened over 70 tours resulting in an over 62,000 ton reduction of Carbon Dioxide. They have worked with nearly 2000 different green organizations, and reached over 8 million fans.

What you can do: watch the video below to learn more about the program, volunteer at a Reverb show or write to your favorite bands or artists, and ask them to consider working with Reverb!

Posted by » walden
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