Always listen to your mother, Gavin Fox of Vega4 told us as we interviewed the band at this year s Earthfest concert in Boston. This coming from the band who s lead singer, Johnny McDaid, climbed the metal scaffolding on the JumboTron to close out their amazing opening set!
This up-and-coming foursome are fantastically funny, mildly irreverent, and humble gentlemen as well. Did I mention they re also very environmentally conscious blokes?
During our interview, Johnny McDaid told us about his plans to work closely with his record label, SonyBMG, to reduce packaging waste with their record.
We also learned that the video contest for the song Life is Beautiful on is coming to a close today. Yes, that s right folks TODAY.
The members of Vega4 are asking all of you with a camera to get out there and film an earth conscious music video for their latest single, Life is Beautiful.
The lucky winner of this contest will win two free tickes to the concert later this summer. If Live Earth is half as fun as Earthfest, I m so there!
-- end META --> This post was submitted by new contributor, . If you’re interested in writing for Ecorazzi,
With this year’s line-up, promised to be the best ever, tickets to have sold like hot-cakes. This year however, the festival famous for its classic rock, huge bands and vast quantities of mud, is doing its bit against global warming.
The 137,000 strong crowd of festival-goers will be given a an “I count” wristband, whose aim is to encourage people to take 16 simple steps to reduce their carbon footprint. The campaign is supported by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition of over 50 organizations, as well as the three main causes - , and . Festival organiser, Michael Eavis said “this year we’ve put a lot of effort into focusing on climate change and the environment.
” He hopes that Glastonbury will rally 100,000 more supporters to the cause.
Unofficial rumours state that Amy Winehouse, Arctic Monkeys, Bjork and Paul Weller are among the performers due to take the stage in late June. An official line-up is to be announced by on the 1st June.
Let s hope Winehouse So far, her record ain t so hot.
It s this evolutionary thread that keeps these guys together, and the band s ultimate goal is to unite people through music to positively affect both social and environmental change.
That s why the band has joined forces with the , a program designed to partner with musicians to minimize the impact their tours have on the environment.
But before we pack up our picnic, we ve got one last fish to fry: , my friends. We ve been talking about Earthfest quite a bit lately , and for good reason. The line-up was AMAZING: The John Butler Trio, Vega4, Mat Kierney, Guster, KT Tunstall and Grace Potter and The Nocturnals.
The weather couldn t have been nicer too. You could smell the environmental awareness in the air and Boston s is spring simply cannot be beat!
Backstage, we got to watch a number of bands giving live radio interviews, and we were able to catch up with Vega4, Adam Gardner from Guster, and Lauren Sullivan, Director and Co-Founder of .
We have some amazing video of our day, and that ll be coming at you all very soon. Stay tuned!
Saturday was a gloriously sunny day in Boston and a perfect one for celebrating our planet.
KT Tunstall, among many other talented artists such as Vega4, Grace Potter, John Butler Trio, Mat Kearney, Tim Finn and Guster, rocked out by the esplanade in Boston s Hatch Shell for WBOS 14th Annual Earthfest.
With over 100,000 attendees, the artists showed their various commitments to environmental issues by sharing their thoughts and eco-tips in-between playing their hit songs. KT Tunstall remarked: We just need to use less stuff.
Only buy what you need. She also dedicated her song Under the Weather to the earth and shouted out into the crowd: Show it some respect!
In a backstage interview, Tunstall also expressed appreciation for Earthfest s deliberate efforts to be an environmentally friendly event, which included a recycling squad, biodegradable plates, and utensils in the VIP tent, and eco-tips posted all over the esplanade, which were sponsored by Whole Foods.
She said: This festival really sets a precedent. It s fantastic. This is the way all festivals should be.
Tunstall s new album will be coming out in September and it s one I am dying to hear. I ll buy it for the sole purpose that KT s tour bus runs on bio-diesel. Plus rumor has it, it s a fabulous album.
You gotta love green rocker chicks!
While the Cannes Film Festival may be have the honor of premiering such eco-conscience films as and , don t expect those green themes to be rubbing off anytime soon. The waste produced during the festival is just about as large as one would expect with the glam and glitter overtaking any form of environmental stewardship.
Leila Conners Petersen, co-director of 11th Hour had this to say , Cannes is an icon of waste and consumption, but it is also an icon of cinema, where the world s attention is focused. While it s upsetting to see all the waste here, Cannes also provides a unique opportunity to get the green message out.
Truly, Cannes does provide one of those inspiration with the entertainment type venues; but resistance is met by organizers at almost every level to pursue eco-friendly alternatives. However, , there are promising developments shaping up.
For the first time, the American Pavilion has a carbon-neutral footprint, having bought carbon offset credits through the U.
S. group Native Energy to match the energy it wastes. The AmPav also has a 40-strong Green Team of students trawling the international pavilion and Cannes hotels, collecting recyclables from festival attendees.
The Marche du Film, the market of film buyers and sellers that takes place during the festival, introduced its own recycling bins this year, another first.
Unfortunately, that s about it. Not one of the dozens of other pavilions scattered about the festival bothered to approach the American Pavilion for advice on how to reduce their impact.
As another perfect example, that giant red carpet almost 5,000 sq ft. of it is pure plastic that s ripped up and thrown away as soon as everyone leaves. Kenny Ausubel, founder of the environmental group (who also makes an appearance in The 11th Hour) ,
Right now, I think that humanity is acting a lot like a movie star trashing a hotel room at Cannes, when it comes to the environment, Ausubel said.
Maybe that s a message we should also get out there.
It s interesting that with the Oscars and Golden Globes embracing green, that a major film festival like Cannes has yet to ride the wave. Considering the press green receives today, you would think it would be in vogue.
Is it European high society indifference on the subject that makes is less than chic to promote? Or has the message simply not been made serious enough to trump the other green attracting all the attention?
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With the premiere of his new documentary on climate change The 11th Hour at Cannes, we re receiving plenty of information on what was said, how the film was received, and the attacks that are brewing. From the beginning, DiCaprio was prepared to fight for his film s message and defend others promoting a similar view. First up, Al Gore.
,
DiCaprio said: We re all trying the best we can, truly, we really are.
Attacks on Al Gore for example I think are misdirected. Don t shoot the messenger, you know what I m saying?
If you re going to attack somebody on the way they conduct their life, let s talk about the big picture, let s see what big oil companies are doing.
This person is truly trying to relay a message to the public and the way he travels and the way he leads his life should not be splayed out like that. In the long term it s about instilling [environmentally friendly principles] into governments and corporations so these things are part of our everyday lives.
Well played, sir! Next, Leo responded to the hits on his own green lifestyle. When asked if he took a fuel-guzzling plane to Cannes, he quipped, No, I took a train across the Atlantic.
Turning serious, he mentioned that he drives a hybrid, has solar panels installed on his home, and flies commercially whenever possible. For Cannes, he took a commercial jet from NYC. They even lost his luggage.
Another great tidbit came from the Canadian Newspaper, The Gazette, where Leo s passion for fighting climate change comes from.
Indeed, the actor said, the route to becoming both actor and activist began with Gore.
About 10 years ago, he sat me down as vice-president of the United States and talked to me about the issue of global warming.
I didn t understand very much about it. And from then on, I ve been kind of much more active in it.
No wonder these two are so tight.
We ll have plenty more coverage coming up so get ready for more 11th Hour goodness. Till then, about Leo s green Cannes showing.
We ve here on Ecorazzi, as we are super impressed with the concept.
Founded by a husband and wife team - one a rocker, one a professional environmentalist, the organization that sets out to green the music industry has married two great topics.
Ecorazzi recently had the chance to talk with Adam Gardner of the band Guster and co-founder of Reverb with his wife Lauren Sullivan. You can see and some other incredible bands at this year s in Boston on Saturday, May 26.
There s no excuse - it s free - and sounds incredible!
Adam Lauren live in a small condo in downtown Portland, Maine. The location allows them to walk most everywhere - that is, when Guster or Reverb aren t on tour.
In fact, Lauren Adam even got others in the building to agree to composting. But they are doing more than just greening their personal lives - they are helping the entire music industry get on the bandwagon.
It s not that the music industry and musicians haven t wanted to be environmentally friendly, There is a lot of intention there, said Gardner, There is just a lack of resources and knowledge.
That’s where Reverb can come in and help. Reverb will sit down with an artist and lay out all of their options. He explains that it s not all or nothing and tells the musicians, What do you want to do?
You wanna do some, you wanna do all? You wanna order a la carte from the menu? Or you can do a combo meal, what would you like?
And as time goes on, it is becoming easier for musicians to go green. Guster used to have to fight with their label to get eco-friendly packaging for their music. Now, Adam tells us, it s a different story, We’ve been on this label for a bunch of years now and every time we put out a record I remember having that conversation.
What are we doing about the paper, can we use soy inks? Well you can, but it will cost more . Now, again, when this record came out last year, I was all ready to get in my fighting position with my product manager about eco-friendly paper and he was all ready to get into it to.
We were in our crouching positions ready to fight and then he said, Well, let me find out the cost differences again. Then he came back and said, You know what? , all paper will be eco-friendly.
In fact, Warner Music Group even made Guster s entire back catalog carbon neutral.
I commented to Adam that what I like about Reverb is that they are actually greening musicians their tours - biodiesel buses, energy efficiency, education - as well as using offsets to make the remainder carbon neutral, which are controversial, I said, depending on who you talk to. That got him fired up
Read on to find out what Adam Gardner thinks of carbon offsets, how Reverb is making going green sexier, who s huffing on exhaust pipes, and which Guster band member is crazy for composting.
However, the organizers warn you - don t learn too much before you go, it will ruin it.
Already a Leave No Trace event, this year, Burning Man s them is and will focus on the environment. Through this, they hope to bring important issues to the forefront and make them part of the ongoing conversation.
Does this mean there won t be a burning man at this year s festival? No! It s Burning Man , after all, not Composting Dude , they say.
The website does state, however, that the organizers are going to pay much closer attention to the materials used on the sculpture, and we will examine our organization and the entirety of Black Rock City to analyze every opportunity to improve our approach and lessen our impact.
And they are serious about leaving no trace. Check out the - that s Matter Out of Place for the rest of us.
Burning Man doesn t even provide trash cans. You are independent, figure it out for yourself! This map charts how clean each campsite was after last year s extravaganza.
Love the concept.
Want to figure out your carbon footprint for your week-long stay in the middle of the desert? A participant site has been set up just for that purpose.
Want to do good in communities with other like-minded individuals? has been set up just for that purpose - allowing Burner involvement the other 51 weeks of the year. They ve even set up an for Burning Man.
At Burning Man, art is typically the focus. This year with the green theme, however, expect to see a lot more environmentally related exhibits in the where they say:
Our goal is as simple as it is profound: create a visually and sensory rich space where breakthrough ideas and proven environmental technologies can be displayed and interacted with against the backdrop of the world’s largest participant-created event. We believe this exposition may well be the only place in the world where such a wide range of technologies and solutions can be displayed in an interactive environment.
As for celebrities Burning Man, producer of the documentary Mike Wilson, :
There s celebrities who go out there who costume up and stay anonymous. The event is not about celebrity. Everyone who is performing is performing for each other.
It really attracts all kinds of people that live all kinds of different lives, and I think that s why its so powerful and impacts a lot of people. There s no dogma or politics attached to it. It s really inviting to anybody who is curious about it.
You end up with an amazing mix of people who are operating under the same sort of social contract: Hey, we re going to treat each other with respect and be kind to each other and learn from each other. You never see this many people gathered together and behaving that well.
Fascinating stuff.
Can t wait to see how it all unfolds.
Last week, that Guster would be headlining this year’s in Boston, brought to you on the on May 26th. For those of us who’ve been listening to Guster ever since they got their start at Tufts University just outside the city, this is a major homecoming!
Fellow Boston contributor, Nina Braten and I plan to spend the day at Earthfest and will have a ton more to report back. It seems as though Guster is sharing the bill with some other amazing acts, including KT Tunstall, Mat Kearney, the John Butler Trio, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, and last, but certainly not least, Vega4.
Vega4, who’s 4 members come from wildly different backgrounds and musical tastes, hail from London, where they met some years ago and built a bond based on their shared interests in music.
They’re also sponsoring an awesome contest on YouTube where they’re asking folks to use their song, Life is Beautiful as the soundtrack to their own green music video.
“We suggested to our record label that they should sponsor a Life is Beautiful contest to inspire everybody to try and make a difference. We know that many of you are creative people, and with that in mind, we d love to see what you can do.
Use Life is Beautiful as the soundtrack to your videos and slideshows and upload them to the Vega4 group on . We ll watch all the videos and slideshows and decide which one we like the best. The winner will win two tickets to the Live Earth show at Giant s Stadium this summer.
” Here is my favorite from the group
dc:title="Vega4 at Earthfest, Boston" If you’ve ever been to an outdoor music festival, you know that each one, in its own right, evokes a nostalgic vibe: alive with the scent of the unbathed and spilled beer - the scent of both enhanced by temperatures soaring above 100°F. Each festival has had its share of problems: Woodstock ’69 plagued with heavy rains and mud abound, Woodstock ’99 with roaring fires and rioting, and even past Coachella events, cursed with financial woes. But all these events have one thing in common, and that’s: what to do with all that trash?
But this year, the , the three-day long music festival held annually at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, decided to do things a little differently. With a crowd of over 60,000 people for each day, why not incentivize them to recycle? So, Coachella introduced their, “10 for 1 Bottle Recycling Centers” program, where you bring them 10 empty water bottles and redeem them for 1 free new bottle of water.
Score! Beats paying $4 for a bottle of water, right? With socially aware acts such as Rage Against the Machine and Willie Nelson on the bill, I bet this push to recycle was a welcomed addition to the Festival’s lineup.
Last year, at the 2006 festival, represented with 35 recycling/trash stations around the main festival grounds and back stage. TRASHed was a year long trash education program developed by Fashion Peace that redefined the way people and businesses viewed recycling and trash collection. Each station was equipped with signage directing people to the trash or recycling bins.
The recycling bins were designed by talented artists all along the west coast.
The 2007 festivities came to a close last night, featuring such acts as Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine. For information about next year’s event, visit the official .
He also happens to be notoriously press-shy.
Razzi was there on the red carpet to try and catch him but like the fish that got away, he slipped by with a sparkle and a swish. Let me just say, the air around this man is electric!
Adrian Grenier, another Razzi , dropped in to catch the film.
He zipped past all of the press, but then when I shouted, I write for an environmental website! (or something similarly inane) he paused, gave me the ol knuckle-five, and said, Rock on! Then he smiled like a Cheshire Cat for my camera.
Even though the of the Festival is over, I m happy to hear encouragement when I tell folks, I write for an environmental blog. After all, we re not in it for the opening night gala glory. We re in it for the long haul.
And it s good to let guys like Adrian and Leo know that we care more about what they do for this world than who they re dating. (Unless you re me. Because I do care about that, too, a little.
)
That s right. Along with Al Gore and Daryl Hannah, I ll be giving a presentation on Positive Green News this weekend at the Toronto Green Living Festival. Hot on the heels of last weekend s Chicago Greenfest, Toronto will be holding a massive event with over 200 exhibitors covering everything from green building to transportation, fashion and beauty to eco-travel and beyond.
Besides the speakers listed above, Van Jones, Jaime Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Suzuki, and a host of other incredible individuals will all be sharing the Main Stage.
There will be opportunities to test drive the latest green vehicles, explore what s hot in sustainable fashion, reap the yummy benefits of a celebrity cook-off, and take a shot at winning a $25,000 eco home-renovation. Sweet.
For more information, check out the .
I hope to see some of you there!
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