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 Green Music Group

Green Music Group (GMG) – a new initiative introduced by Reverb earlier this year – is on a mission. By building and mobilizing a coalition of musicians, industry leaders, and fans, GMG aims to green the music business and beyond. As you may recall, Reverb is a nonprofit organization, founded by Guster guitarist Adam Gardner and his wife Lauren Sullivan, that’s been helping to green concert tours since 2004.

They’re already off to a great start with a noteworthy list of founding members and partners. Now they need us! They’ve launched an online community, and as an incentive to sign up and take some green actions, they’re giving away some fabulous prizes. (As if we need a reason to socialize with like-minded green music folks? Okay…the lure of prizes is pretty enticing, especially since rumor has it that VIP tickets and a coveted Apple iPad may be amongst the offerings.)

Every two weeks, a GMG artist like Willie Nelson, the Roots, or Sheryl Crow will kick off a new challenge to make an eco-friendly change in your life. All you have to do is upload a picture to the GMG website as proof you’ve done the deed and you’ll be entered to win that challenge’s prizes as well as the grand prize – a 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid LX! They’ll be nine challenges total.

Challenge number one comes from the Dave Matthews Band’s Stefan Lessard. We’re tasked with getting involved in our community by volunteering. If you need some ideas, head over to GMG’s partner, Do Something, to search for volunteer opportunities in your area. The prize for this challenge is a Specialized Bike and a Rossignol Dave Matthews Band Limited Edition Stefan Lessard Signature Snowboard. You have until noon EDT on Friday, April 23 to complete the first challenge, so get going!

And this is just the beginning. GMG also plans on facilitating large-scale changes in the music industry by creating standards for tours, venues, and labels; offering a Green Grants program for emerging artists; and creating a green music guild to support artists in green efforts.

Sign me up.

Photo via MySpace

My brother’s been raving on Phacebook about how phantastic the Phish show was at Phenway last week. Okay, this whole “ph” thing is getting annoying. I’ll stop now while I’m ahead. ..

Anyway, I heard some phabulous, errr… fabulous, things about Phish’s latest greening efforts for their summer tour and decided to check it out. And boy does it check out.

The Waterwheel Foundation (the nonprofit organization that oversees Phish’s charitable activities) and Reverb have teamed up to help not only Phish, but also their fans, go green.

The band is doing all sorts of cool stuff like fueling up their buses and trucks with biodisel; stocking their tour bus with eco-friendly cleaners and supplies; eating food from local, organic farms; composting waste and recycling; and using reusable water bottles. To top it all off, Phish plans to purchase carbon offsets to neutralize the CO2 emissions from their touring fleet, air travel, hotel accommodations, and venue energy use.

Phish has also created an online guide for fans - Traveling Light: The Green Guide to Phish Touring – that lists green resources specific to each show in the following categories:

• Food. Farmers markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food.
• Lodging. Green hotels and campsites.
• Transport. Carpools, bike routes, public transit options, and biodiesel fueling stations.
  
• Side Trips & Volunteering. Eco-friendly side trips and community service projects.
• Inspired Readings. Resources to keep the green momentum going at home.

Carpooling is getting a big push, with Phish giving away a free download of  the show each night of the tour to 20 random fans that sign up for PickupPal’s Phish RideShare Service. Phish fans have a reputation for following the band from show to show, so reducing the environmental impacts from travel has the potential to have a big impact.

Interested in joining in the phun (there I go again…), uh… fun? You can find Phish’s summer tour schedule here.

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.