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!

Logo via Reverb

There’s much to think about when planning a tour: booking gigs, transportation, lodging, advertising, whether or not including a cover of Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend” on the set list is really a good idea… How do you make a tour environmentally friendly on top of all that? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a green fairy that could wave her eco wand and take care of it all for you?

Enter Reverb, a Portland, Maine-based organization that does just that. Reverb offers a menu of greening services for artists and their managers including providing biodiesel for buses, sourcing eco-friendly merchandise like organic t-shirts and reusable water bottles, and coordinating local, organic catering.

Reverb was founded by environmental activist Lauren Sullivan and her musician husband Adam Gardner, guitarist and vocalist for Guster. They’ve worked with an impressive roster of artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Stars, Phish, Andrew Bird, and Kelly Clarkson. So far they’ve greened 70 tours and 1,120 events, reducing 62,608 tons of CO2 in the process. Not too shabby.

And they haven’t forgot about the fans, whose commute comprises over 80% of a concert’s carbon footprint (!). Reverb has made it easy for folks to reduce the environmental impact of their travel by partnering with the online ridesharing system PickupPal and selling carbon offset credits at shows.

Reverb also promotes environmental awareness at concerts, highlighting green causes, technologies, and businesses. They’re always looking for volunteers to help out with this, especially at festivalas and larger events where they set up an entire “Eco Village.” And volunteering wil get you a free pass. Not a bad deal, if you ask me. Just remember to carpool. And show some love for the Loverboy cover.