Inconvenient Youth

When you’re on the road touring in a band, it’s easy to get caught up in conveniences like eating fast food all the time. In my last blog, I talked about making simple changes to reducing trash associated with the over packaging of convenience foods. Plan ahead and you can significantly cut down on the amount of daily garbage you normally produce. Now we’ll talk about a few other more eco conscious ways of staying on the road by working with and supporting other like minded promoters as well as staying at eco friendly lodging establishments.

Stay in Hotels with a Track Record of Environmental Friendliness

Rocking your fans’ faces off night after night is fun, but tiring. Eventually you’ll have to find a place to lay your pretty little head. Crashing on a friend’s floor is a good option but if you’re new to town without buddy lodging hookups you might opt to stay in hotels. But before you check in, see if the hotel is committed to doing business in a more sustainable way. Mention you’re in a band aiming to stay green and they just might cut you a discount. Go to www.greenhotels.com for more info and state by state listings.

Play At Green Friendly Venues and Festivals

It might seem a little OCD to call ahead of time to see whether a venue is green or not. But once you arrive for sound check, take a look around and see if there are clearly marked recycling bins. If not, it can’t hurt to make a suggestion that the proprietor add some.

If you happen to make a festival appearance on your tour, ask the promoter if they know about “A Greener Festival”. Agreenerfestival.com is a UK site that is a wealth of information for putting on more sustainable festival events. Here are just a few great ideas:

· Much of the trash generated at festivals can be composted

· Make use of shuttle buses powered by sustainable energy

· Only allow biodegradable cups and plates on site.

There are plenty of ways to promote your band and have fun being a concert goer while keeping environmental stewardship in mind.

We Americans are into a lot of things: baseball, apple pie, American Idol. But do you know your fellow countrymen are also really into drinking water? Little known fact, people, and aren’t you the better for knowing it? (Note sarcasm.) But all kidding aside, I do have a point here. According to Earth911.com, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each in 2006. See? Told you we were a thirsty bunch. You know what’s sad though? Out of those 167 bottles, we only recycled about 23% of them. That means that in 2006 alone, 38 billion (yes, billion) water bottles were left to R.I.P. in landfills. Can you imagine?

Not only do disposable water bottles cause undue waste, but they also cost us, and the US at large, big money for a resource that is available to us at home for mere pennies! According to the American Water Works Association, filtering and purifying tap water at home costs less than a penny a day — bottled water costing $1-4 per serving. Come on, you know that bottled water you buy in the airport is expensive! Just say “no”!

And remember that BPA we talked about before? BPA stands for Bisphenol A and according to recent reports, BPA is a chemical that enters our bodies because it leaches out of plastic bottles. Ack! There are so many reasons to use a reusable bottle over those tired out plastic ones. But how to choose a reusable bottle, you say?

First off, opt for durable, BPA- and phthalate-free reusable bottle rather than a cheaply-made throwaway bottle. Good canteens will be made from aluminum, stainless steel, or a brand new material called Tritan copolyester. Sounds spaceage! Selecting reusable canteens like these over your disposable water bottle will keep you healthy and save you money over time.

Now I know your backpacks, purses and lockers are stuffed enough as it is, but trust me — tossing a canteen into your mix will do leaps and bounds for our world and your pocketbook! Do it for our future planet.

Here are some cool canteens that meet green standards and are easy on the eyes, too:

• SIGG
http://www.www.mysigg.com/
-Made from tough, virtually unbreakable aluminum.
-Llined with a proprietary internal coating that is resistant to fruit-juice acids, energy drinks, alcohol, and almost every other consumable beverage.
-Sigg canteens exceed U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements and have been tested to ensure absolutely zero leaching.
-Eye-catching designs!
-100% recyclable!

• Klean Kateen
http://www.kleankanteen.com/
-Rust resistant, stainless steel.
-PBA free!
-Sippy Spout and Adapter made from non-leaching polypropylene #5 plastic, which converts any 12-ounce Klean Kanteen bottle into a sippy cup!

• Camelbak
http://www.camelbak.com/index.cfm
-Made from polycarbonate plastic
-New line of bottles made from a new BPA-free and phthalate-free Tritan copolyester
-Only $9!

Sources: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/safer-water-bottle.html,   http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=24

For many of us, our jobs merely offer a place to clock in and clock out. When stepping into a maze of cubicles, it’s incredibly easy to slough off the responsibilities you uphold in maintaining the place you call home. Unless you’re the office manager, there is usually someone else whose job includes turning lights on and off, keeping the kitchen and bathrooms stocked appropriately, and keeping the work space clean. It’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond, but take heart!– you can carry your responsible self from home right into work, with a few simple changes.

Reduce, Reuse

For an easy and fun place to start, go to the website of your favorite office supply store. No, you’re not done yet! In the search box type ‘Recycled’, hit ‘Search’ and watch the results roll in- thousands upon thousands. You might be surprised by the variety of office products you can purchase that contain recycled material. Certain recycled products like manila envelopes and storage boxes aren’t as much of a shocker, but did you know you can buy recycled toilet paper, stackable trays, and Post-It notes? Get to shoppin’!

StINK Less

If your office prints as much as mine does, it may seem like you’re replacing ink cartridges every other week. Did you know you can use remanufactured ink cartridges? Not only will you save money, but with each remanufactured cartridge used, you will be saving two and a half pounds of metal and plastic from entering landfills. In addition to this good news, you will also save about a half gallon of oil that goes into producing a brand new ink cartridge.

Sweat the Small Stuff

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I look around and think, ‘there’s no way I can affect any sort of change.’ Striving towards a greener world can feel like a daunting task, but there are little things that you probably don’t even think about that can help. For example;
• Don’t leave the water running at the sink as you’re deep in conversation with your co-worker about how the judges on American Idol saved a contestant that was voted off last night. Move quickly when you’re washing your hands, or you may be letting two gallons of water run down the drain!
• If you hear a toilet running, take two minutes to notify the management. Toilets use 6-7 gallons of water per flush.
• Don’t take ten napkins from the kitchen or cafeteria just because you can.

See? These are all things the average Joe or Jane can do with very little effort. Being slightly more mindful when you’re at work can help you instill some seriously good habits within yourself, and in your co-workers

1) Search! Plug in the name of your city plus the phrase “Climate Plan” into your favorite search engine and sift through the results. Let’s say you lived in Anaheim. What you’d type into Google would be [Anaheim and “climate plan”]. Check the URL of the page that comes up in the search results to make sure it’s not just bogus information. If you find information on a page ending in a .gov or a .state.us suffix, you’ve likely found the real official local government plan.
2) Go Direct. If you can’t find the climate plan through the search engine, or if the results are too gnarly to look through, go directly to your city’s official website. Most city governments have official websites. Again, look at the URL. It should end in .gov, or .state.us – those two suffixes are only available to government organizations. Once on your city’s website, look for a link to their environmental policies and climate plan.
3) No luck on the web? Pick up your phone. Call your city’s information line and ask where you can find their climate plan. If your city doesn’t have an information line, call a city council member’s office and ask the staff there. If your city council is elected to represent different districts of the city, call the person who represents the neighborhood where you live. If it’s an at-large council, call any member you like. They should be able to direct you towards the plan or [insert scary music here] let you know that the city doesn’t have one.

Let’s say you follow these steps and find out that your city does not yet have a climate plan. What then?

1) Get informed! Ask your representative or a city council member what it would take to get a climate plan set up for your city. If they don’t help, call a different city council member.
2) Get organized! Figure out what you can do to help set up a climate plan. Talk to people you know who could serve as experts to persuade the city council that your city needs to have a plan. Professors, science teachers, and environmental activists would be helpful as experts.
3) Get a team! Confer with other ICY members in your area on your mission. Recruit your friends to join ICY and help out. Everyone should contact their representatives, go to city council meetings, and spread the word that your city is in need of a climate plan. There is strength in numbers – make sure the city council is aware that their constituents want a climate plan.
4) Share your success! Once you convince your city council to adopt a climate plan, let us know about it! Your success will inspire other people to get their city governments aware of the need for a climate plan. If you have success with this, contact the team at Inconvenient Youth so we can write an article on the blog about your success, and so you can tell the rest of the organization how you did it.

Not sure what a climate plan is? Here are a few examples from cities around the country:

Boulder, Colorado [pdf]: http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/files/Environmental%20Affairs/climate%20and%20energy/cap_final_25sept06.pdf
Cambridge, Massachusetts [pdf]: http://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/et/climate/clim_plan/clim_plan_full.pdf

Rocking the Nation is a Dirty Job…
 
In the nineties, I had a ton of fun playing drums in a touring band. Over the course of roughly ten years, we traveled hundreds of thousands of miles! And it took a whole lot of gasoline to get from point A to point B. Well, alternative fuel is a subject better left to a separate blog post but what I haven’t thought about until recently is all the garbage we regrettably generated on the road…
 
Burger Joints and Convenience Stores: A Home Away From Home
 
Tour life IS fun but it’s not always as glamorous as it seems. Much of the time is spent in the van driving from show to show and you’re usually in a rush to get to the venue on time for load in and sound check. That means your home away from home is convenience stores and fast food joints. And that means there’s a lot of garbage being generated after each meal. As an example, multiply four people’s gross eating habits by five (three meals and two snack breaks) and that’s just more unnecessary trash going to the land fill. But if you plan ahead, there are efficient ways to cut out most of that waste. Here are a few tips on how to do it:
 
Skip McDonald’s and Shop at the Grocery Store Instead
 
Make going to the grocery store a regular part of your routine. It might seem inconvenient at first but it’s not that big of a deal. And if you buy fresh, healthy foods like fruits and veggies, you’ll be eating healthier which means you’ll have more energy to rock your fans AND you’ll be cutting out convenience foods packaging. Here’s a few things to keep in mind:
 

• You’ll need a small cooler to keep perishables fresh.
• Invest the measly $1 on a reusable grocery bag. Most stores now have sturdy, reusable grocery bags for sale near the check out line.
• Bring your own utensils instead of using disposable spoons and forks.
• Use nalgene or glass bottles for beverages and fill up at the soda fountain at the mini mart instead of buying bottled water and soda.

Going the Extra Mile…

If you want to take your eco-consciousness to the next level, places like Whole Foods Market allow you to use your own containers if you’re getting food from bulk bins or the deli. Just have a check out clerk weight the container beforehand so they can subtract the container weight from the “per pound” price of the food.
 
In the next blog, I’ll talk about working with green friendly promoters and lodging establishments.   

Most school cafeterias are run by one of three companies: Sodexo, Aramark, or the Compass Group (which owns both Chartwells and Bon Appétit.) All three of those corporations have their own environmental policies. The first thing you need to do is figure out which corporation your school works with, and get familiar with their greening programs. (Look for the links at the end of this article.)

This year, the big trend for school cafeterias is serving meals without trays. That’s right, instead of loading up all the food you want onto a sturdy plastic tray, you simply grab the plate you need and head to your table. You might have to make another trip to get a drink, but, it seems like an easy price to pay for sustainability. With the trayless system, schools can save time, money, water, and soap. When cafeterias use trays, they end up having to wash upwards of 2,000 trays per meal – no trays to wash means saving all those chemicals and reducing your school’s water use.

If your school is still using trays, there are a few steps you can take to push them to transfer to a trayless system.

1) Stop using trays yourself! Set an example for your classmates and bypass the tray stand.
2) Contact your dining hall staff and get them onboard for life without trays. Getting their backing will help when you talk to the administration.
3) Petition your school’s Food Committee or Director of Food Services to try going trayless. They should be in your administration under “Business services” or “Facilities”
4) Administration still clinging to their trays? Convince the cafeteria to go trayless for one day. Providence College went trayless for Earth Day last year. The experiment was such a success that they’ve instituted a trayless system for all of their cafeterias this year.
5) If you can’t figure out who to contact at your school, shoot us an email at Inconvenient Youth, and we’ll see what we can do to identify who the correct contact is at your college or high school.

Here are links to the environmental policies for Sodexo, Aramark, and The Compass Group:
Sodexo: http://www.sodexousa.com/usen/citizenship/sustainability/sustainability.asp
Aramark: http://www.aramark.com/ContentTemplate.aspx?PostingID=392&ChannelID=223
The Compass Group: http://www.compass-group.com/responsibilitysociety/she.htm

While I was going to college, a student group house across the street from my apartment developed something that seems best described as a yard farm, and in the process I think they demonstrated an extremely adaptable model for building a fun and inclusive eco-clique around micro-agriculture. And as far as I was ever able to determine, the whole thing began spontaneously, when one tenant just thought it would be fun to have a duckling and three chicks as house pets.

The sight of the younglings waddling and pecking around the rental property’s patchy side lawn attracted a good deal of attention from neighborhood passersby, and soon it became common for groups of students and neighbors to congregate there and shoot the breeze while the animals played. Then one day some of the kids hanging out there started plowing up the weed-infested flowerbed that ran the length of the house, and, having secured permission from the property’s landlord, proceeded to turn the thin strip of earth into an organic garden. Over the course of a quarter, they planted and cultivated several different herbs and vegetables, and in the process continued to attract more of us from around the neighborhood to stop by and talk about the project, to pitch in and get our hands dirty, and to discuss the pros and cons of organic farming, DIY gardening tips, the importance of supporting container gardening, or what I like to call porch pot gardening, because, you know, it has a better ring to it. Anyway, my family used a combination of variously sized pots and troughs to turn our porch into an organic vegetable and herb garden that is both fruitful and attractive. The same thing can be done on a well-sunned patio, balcony, roof, or even windowsill. And porch pot gardening actually has some built in advantages, like limiting water diffusion, providing more plant protection, and portability for maximizing sunlight.

Another way to approach this model would be to find out if your city or town has a community pea patch where you can rent, or sometimes even use for free, small plots of earth to work. But no matter where and how you create your micro-ag project, the important thing, I think, is to make it a visible group activity that cultivates crops, community, eco-conversations, and a deeper appreciation for what it actually takes to create a slice of tomato or piece of lettuce—especially organically.

You can use the links in this article to gain a fuller understanding of these issues, but a few cursory things to know about the importance of local, sustainable agriculture are:

1. It supports clean water and ecosystems, whereas factory farms tend to produce a great deal of pollution.
2. It decreases transportation related hazards.
3. Animals tend to be allowed to live in a more natural manner.
4. It enriches your local economy and tends to be more socially just.

WANT TO DO MORE?

Hi! Joshua from Look Mexico here again with the fifth installment of my blog series “It’s Not Easy Being Green”, an overview of the vegetable oil conversion process to help you and your band keep it earth friendly out there on the road.

So you’ve converted your vehicle and you’re pumping considerably less pollutants into the atmosphere. Some folks would claim that your conversion is carbon neutral because the C02 offset by the plants grown for the veggie oils, is roughly that of what you produce by burning the oil. But maybe you don’t buy that. Maybe you still don’t feel like you’re doing enough by bringing your rock and roll to the masses in an environmentally friendly way. Well there are still ways you can keep it green, baby.

As I covered in the last blog on maintaining your system, some subtle changes in the way you drive and maintain your vehicle can have a huge impact on how much junk your pump into the air. Replace your air, fuel, and oil filters regularly. Drive like a champ not a chump. Try and not crank your air conditioning and heat to their extremes. Find a more moderate temperature that will keep the heating and cooling systems cycling and using less fuel. Speed up and slow down smoothly. Maintain steady speeds. Anticipate your starts and stops. Keep the right amount of air in your tires. Carbonfund.org says that keeping proper air in your tires could keep 400-700 pounds of C02 out of the atmosphere per year. Driving like a champ? An estimated one ton!

One website in particular, carbonfund.org, encourages you to purchase “carbon offsets.” What’s a carbon offset? Well, it’s essentially a donation you make to the website to help fund initiatives that are environmentally friendly. Carbonfund.org has a carbon calculator on their website which allows you to calculate how much carbon you may produce on say a long rock and roll tour, and steps you can take to offset those carbon emissions. Seems a bit of a stretch, but if recycling isn’t enough for you, this could be your answer.

Many bands are beginning to print their shirts on natural fabrics using non-hazardous inks and dyes in their printing. The same goes for cd duplication, as many companies have begun to use post consumer papers in their printing processes. Or you can go really green, skip the duplication all together, and release your record digitally.

Well that about concludes my five part series on taking your band to the extreme green. I appreciate you reading, and I hope you learned a little.

And so if the ice caps melt, the earth’s land submerges, and you’re pushed to drift about the vast seas like Kevin Costner in that horrible high budget film, you’ll at least be able to slap to the side of your makeshift skiff a sticker that reads, “Don’t blame me. I was carbon neutral.”

Take care, and thanks for reading!