Image via MySpace

Strawberries, green beans, cherries, asparagus, peaches… Hungry yet?

Fresh summer produce is beginning to pop up at grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and backyards all over the country. Which is going to make the Green Music Group’s Challenge #5 – to eat at least one meal with all local and organic ingredients – pretty darn easy (and tasty!).

And what’s not to love about local, organic food? It’s good for you, the environment, and the economy. Food tastes better because it’s fresher (it’s traveled less miles from the farm to your plate), and without those nasty pesticides and preservatives, too. Minimizing food’s transportation means using less fuel and generating less carbon emissions. Plus, buying from local farmers is a great way to support your community.

The band members of Guster will be taking the challenge along with us. They’re founding members of the Green Music Group, a coalition of artists, industry folks, and fans working towards making the music industry greener.

Adam Gardner, guitarist and vocalist for Guster and co-founder of Reverb, offers a few words of encouragement:

If one dish isn’t enough to satisfy your craving for local, organic food, no one’s stopping you from going back for seconds (or thirds). Try having more of these kinds of meals a week. Or take things to the next level by starting your own garden, participating in a community garden, or joining a CSA. You could even ask your favorite music venues to offer local and organic snacks at shows.

If you need some help, try the Eat Well Guide, a free online directory of places to find food in your area that was grown organically and locally. If you’re a musician on tour or a fan traveling to music festivals this summer, you’ll definitely appreciate the mapping tool “Eat Well Everywhere,” that helps you find good food on the road.

Just for eating a delicious, healthy meal, you could win a pair of 2010 season passes to either the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA or the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, CA. To enter the drawing for this challenge, just upload a photo to the Green Music Group’s website that proves you completed the task (creativity counts!) and tag the pic with the word “FIVE” by noon ET on Friday, June 18.

There’s also a grand prize – a Honda Insight Hybrid – that will be awarded at the conclusion of the Green Music Group’s series of nine challenges. Each challenge you complete will earn you a chance to win the grand prize.

Bon appetit and good luck!

Photo via Willie Nelson

Summer is on its way! That means it’s outdoor concert and music festival season.

Unfortunately, all that traveling to and from venues really takes a toll on the environment. According to the green tour gurus at Reverb, fans’ travel accounts for over 80% of the carbon footprint of a rock concert.

Yikes.

Seems like now is the perfect time to take on the fourth Green Music Group Challenge, which asks us to travel lighter. It’s brought to you by none other than the biodiesel king Willie Nelson.

So carpool to your next show or avoid the traffic entirely by taking public transportation. Biking is not out of the question either (it’s more common than you think!) and you can always walk if you’re lucky enough to live close to your favorite club.

Better yet, think about ways you could green your travel in other areas of your life, like your daily commute to work or school or your weekly trip to the grocery store.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has a nifty tool called TrailLink, which can help you find bike trails and walking paths in your area. Although I don’t know how many of us regularly travel via horse (maybe Willie Nelson does, actually…), TrailLink also includes information about equestrian trails.

Hear what Willie has to say on the topic:

Did I mention there are prizes? To enter the drawing for this challenge – and earn a chance to win a $500 gift certificate to Hard Rock – take a photo proving you completed the action and upload your pic to the Green Music Group’s website. Remember to tag your photo with the word “FOUR.” You’ll also be entered to win the grand prize – a Honda Insight Hybrid. The deadline for challenge four is noon ET on Friday, June 4.

And remember, there are nine challenges in all. We’ll be hearing from more of the Green Music Group’s founding members in the coming weeks on ways we can go green.

Image via Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson is kicking off the release of his new album, To the Sea, and subsequent summer tour in a fitting way for a singer-songwriter with surfer roots and an ocean-themed album title: with a beach clean-up!

On Saturday, May 22, Johnson and Heal the Bay will host a two-hour beach clean-up at Santa Monica Bay. For doing their part to keep California beaches garbage-free, Johnson will treat participants to a free concert at the pier on May 24.

With tickets for the show limited to the first 2,000 participants, you can imagine that it didn’t take long before they were all snatched up.

But don’t despair if you missed out! You can still win tickets by following @jackjohnson and @brushfire on Twitter. They’re giving away a pair of tickets to Twitter followers each day through May 23. Local radio stations KROQ, 98.7, KCRW, and MYFM will also feature ticket giveaways.

Recorded at Johnson’s two solar-powered studios – The Mango Tree in Hawaii and the Solar Powered Plastic Plant in Los Angeles – To The Sea is already on the fast track to success. The first single, “You and Your Heart,” sold 148,000 digital downloads since its release on iTunes in April.

Here’s a preview:

Following in the green footsteps of his 2008 tour, Johnson will again donate 100% of the 2010 tour’s proceeds to charity.

That’s not a typo – Jackson won’t make a dime off the tour.

As part of Johnson’s All At Once campaign, all funds generated from the tour will support over 150 nonprofit organizations working on sustainable local food systems and plastic waste reduction projects. Considering the 2008 tour raised $900,000 for charity, Johnson’s generosity can make a big difference on these issues.

And you can bet Johnson’s got some green touring tricks up his sleeve too. Biodiesel-fueled vehicles, eco-friendly merchandise, and ride share programs are just a few of the green actions planned. They’ll also encourage both venues and fans to reduce waste, recycle, use water refill stations, and offset carbon emissions.

After a handful of European dates in June, Jack Johnson embarks on a U.S. coast-to-coast tour, starring in Hartford, Connecticut on October 14 and ending in Santa Barbara for a two-night finale July 8-9. To see if Jack is coming to a city near you, visit the tour schedule. To the Sea will be released on June 1.

via Treehugger

Photo via Lily Allen

In a recent visit to witness the impacts of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest first-hand, Lily Allen was confronted with an unwelcome guest in her bed – a tarantula. It’s safe to say that screaming and fleeing the room soon followed.

I won’t recap the spider’s gruesome fate here. (Let’s just say it involved a shoe.) In Lily’s defense, she didn’t exactly order a hit on the lil’ fellow, so let’s give her a break on that one.

Lily’s trip brought her to Acre in Brazil, where WWF and Sky are partnering on the Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign. The campaign aims to fight climate change by saving over one billion trees. Their focus is educating local communities on more sustainable ways to earn a living from the forest than cattle ranching, which is one of the main causes of deforestation.

For example, the Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign supports projects to sustainably harvest Brazil nuts and rubber. Part of Lily’s trip included touring a condom factory where rubber tappers can get a fair price for their product. (Stop giggling!)

The Amazon is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, not to mention extremely important in regulating the Earth’s climate. Rainforests absorb lots of carbon dioxide as well as release oxygen into the atmosphere. The impact of deforestation is huge – it accounts for over 15% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Lily hopes her visit will draw attention to the issue and get people involved, especially because deforestation’s consequences aren’t always immediately visible.

As Lily explains:

“The situation in the rainforest has implications for all of us. The solutions are not easy, but we need to tease out those complexities – just because there’s not a human face it doesn’t mean this isn’t serious.”

The Sky Rainforest Rescue campaign hopes to raise £2 million (about $2.9 million) for this project over the next three years. Sky will match all donations, bringing the campaign’s total to £4 million (about $5.7 million). You can support the campaign by sponsoring an acre of forest, adopting a jaguar, or making one-time donation.

via ecorazzi

Image via the Hangout Festival

What started out as the newest music festival on the block has quickly evolved into much more. In response to the environmental devastation of the Gulf oil spill, the Hangout Beach, Music & Arts Festival has been reinvented as the Concert for the Coast.

The festival – which takes place May 14-16 in Gulf Shores, Alabama – will donate all its proceeds to coastal protection and restoration.

Headliners include Trey Anastasio, John Legend, Ben Harper, The Black Crowes, Girl Talk, Michael Franti & Spearhead, and Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Festival organizers are taking a three-pronged approach to coastal recovery by: 1) promoting activism, 2) increasing public awareness, and 3) fundraising to benefit nonprofit organizations that will help the people, communities, and habitats affected by this disaster.

Activism
HeadCount will be in attendance, running a supply drive to collect needed items like baby blankets and towels and helping festival-goers write letters to Congress about offshore drilling and energy reform.

Awareness
The final day of the festival showcases a speaker panel with Adam Gardner of Guster and Reverb reknown, a national leader from the Sierra Club, and more. They’ll discuss offshore drilling, US dependence on foreign oil, and how musicians and fans can make a difference.

Fundraising
Two additional late-night benefit shows have been added to the schedule. On May 14, Alex B, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), and Big Gigantic will take the stage, with proceeds going to Mobile Baykeeper. Keller Williams’ Electronic Experiment will host a special benefit show the following evening, on May 15, to support the Rex Foundation and Mobile Baykeeper.

Limited edition posters, signed by artists performing at the festival, will be auctioned off to raise even more funds.

But wait, that’s not all! On May 16, the Concert for the Coast will extend to New Orleans as well. Calling itself Gulf Aid, the New Orleans show will feature Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Ani DiFranco, Allen Toussaint, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Mos Def, and more. Proceeds go to Gulf Relief Foundation, which will distribute funds to help fisherman and the region’s seafood industry as well as the restoration of coastal wetlands.

via Jambase

Photo via The Roots

How’s this for a motivator to start your spring cleaning: a chance to win DJ Hero and a $300 Best Buy gift card.

As part of the Green Music Group Challenge, the Roots are asking us to clean out our closets and give our unwanted clothing and other household items to reuse organizations like Goodwill.

Textiles comprise 4% of the solid waste stream – that’s 68 lbs of clothing per person annually! And we rarely get rid of clothes because they’re worn out. It’s more likely that we’ve changed sizes or decided they weren’t our style after all. Why throw away something that can be reused? Fashion is relative – one person’s junk is another person’s funk. Plus, donating to charities like Goodwill helps give back to the community. Or get more creative with your closet rejects and organize a clothing swap.

Here’s Questlove from the Roots with some words of encouragement:

To get in on the action, take a photo of all the stuff you’re donating and upload your photo to the Green Music Group’s website by noon EDT on Friday, May 21. Make sure you tag your entry with the word “THREE” to qualify for the prize drawing. If you need help finding a donation site, check out the Goodwill locator tool.

This is the third of nine challenges that the Green Music Group and its founding artists are asking us to take to help bring about positive environmental change. In addition to the challenge three prize pack, every entry also gets you a chance to win the grand prize: a Honda Insight Hybrid.

Stay tuned to Rockin’ in the Green World for more opportunities to win.

Photo via Bonnie Raitt

Rock the Earth has bestowed the honor of 2010 Planet Defender in the artist category to Bonnie Raitt. And with good reason.

Bonnie’s environmental resume includes dozens of benefit concerts promoting awareness of environmental issues like forest preservation, water protection, the effects of mining, and the need for alternative energy. She was a founding member of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) and the Green Music Group. She even got arrested not once, but twice, for her activism on forest policy.

Sometimes referred to as the “godmother of green touring,” Bonnie started Green Highway on her summer 2002 tour. Green Highway was one of the first comprehensive green touring programs: it included using biodiesel, purchasing carbon offsets, and connecting fans to environmental nonprofits through a traveling eco-village. Green Highway continues to be a feature of all Bonnie’s tours. The program has not only inspired other artists to go green, but also served as the model for Reverb.

Here’s what Bonnie had to say about her latest honor:

“As a long-time advocate for the environment and safe energy, it is such an honor to receive the Planet Defender award from Rock the Earth.  This organization has been a faithful non-profit partner in my ongoing effort to share the message of ultimate environmental responsibility with fans at my concerts. Thank you, Rock the Earth, for helping to spread the word about protecting the environment and encouraging people to get involved at the local level. Keep up the great work!”

I think I can speak on behalf music fans everywhere when I say, thank you, Bonnie Raitt!

via Rock the Earth

Image via Sheryl Crow

The Green Music Group is at it again! A few weeks ago, Stefan Lessard from the Dave Matthews Band kicked off the organization’s Green Music Challenge by asking us to volunteer in our communities.

Challenge two comes from Sheryl Crow, who urges us to write a letter to our Representative or Senator in Congress in support of strong, effective environmental legislation. It’s all part of the Green Music Group’s plan to help the music industry  - and music fans – to be better environmental citizens.

Writing a letter sounds like a lot of work, but maybe the fact that it requires effort is the reason why it’s such a successful advocacy tool. Taking the time to share your opinion on environmental policy sends a powerful message to Congress that this issue matters to their constituency.

To enter the challenge’s drawing for a Patagonia prize pack plus a shot at winning a 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid, take a photo with your local representative or Congressional office staffer or even a shot outside your district office. Upload the shot to the Green Music Group’s website by noon EDT on Friday, May 7, tag it with the word “TWO,” and you’re entered to win!

Headcount is sweetening the deal by giving away a free “Best of Bonnaroo” compilation download featuring exclusive tracks from the Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Ani Difranco, Wilco, Guster, and more to everyone that uses the Headcount tool to write their Senator, local newspaper, or the President.

Image via Earth Day Network

Earth Day is getting quite the party for it’s 40th birthday.

And what’s a party without a little entertainment?

Passion Pit, the Roots, Mavis Staples, Honor Society, John Legend, Sting, Booker T, Joss Stone, and more will rock the National Mall on Sunday, April 25 to wrap up a week of Earth Day events held ’round the globe.

But it’s not all play and no work. We’ve come a long way since the first Earth Day in 1970, but there’s still important work to do.

The Climate Rally calls for Congress to adopt comprehensive climate legislation to create clean energy jobs, curb global warming, and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Politicians and activists like Reverend Jesse Jackson, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, author Margaret Atwood, and NFL player Dhani Jones will also lend their support to the event.

If you can’t make it to DC, the festivities will be streamed live on Earth Day Network’s website.

via Earth Day Network

Photo via MySpace

Repower America, a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, is producing a music video for Earth Day starring Biz Markie and…you!

Biz Markie is remixing his classic hit “Just A Friend,” changing up the lyrics to advocate for clean energy legislation and jobs.

All you have to do is watch the video below, record yourself rapping along with Biz Markie, post the video to YouTube (be sure to include a link to “http://www.repoweramerica.org/remix“), and send Repower America the link to your video using their online form.

If you need a little inspiration and encouragement, check out these great early submissions. On April 22, Repower America will unveil a mash-up video of the best renditions.

Camera shy? That’s okay, there are other ways to help the cause. You can sign Repower America’s online petition, call your Senator, take simple actions to reduce your own energy use, attend a Repower America event, or all of the above.

The lyrics are pretty fantastic. I admit I’ve watched to the video about a dozen times already, picturing Biz Markie and his entourage of supporters performing this in front of the Senate. The next step in the campaign, perhaps? I just hope it’s televised…