Live Earth fused music with the new green movement across seven continents, but in reality, with its gas guzzling tours, mountains of waste and gigawatts of power, just how environmentally aware is the live industry?

Let’s face it...these days, if you’re not shouting from a solar-panelled rooftop about your latest planet-saving initiative, you’re viewed in much the same way as MiniDisc, Betamax or the Sinclair C5. If 2007 is remembered for anything, it’ll be as the year we finally admitted the planet’s fallibility, when ears opened to the overwhelming evidence that munching through our natural resources would not guarantee a happy future, regardless of whether it might be sunnier.

Live Earth fused music with the new green movement across seven continents, but in reality, with its gas guzzling tours, mountains of waste and gigawatts of power, just how environmentally aware is the live industry?

Let’s face it...these days, if you’re not shouting from a solar-panelled rooftop about your latest planet-saving initiative, you’re viewed in much the same way as MiniDisc, Betamax or the Sinclair C5. If 2007 is remembered for anything, it’ll be as the year we finally admitted the planet’s fallibility, when ears opened to the overwhelming evidence that munching through our natural resources would not guarantee a happy future, regardless of whether it might be sunnier.

In May 2006, Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth rang alarm bells around the developed world, warnings that were further amplified by the Stern Review in October 2006; a report which suggested that climate change could shrink the global economy by 20%. And while there have been counterarguments (UK broadcaster Channel 4’s documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle has spurred furious debate and lawsuits from ‘misquoted’ scientists), publicly disagreeing with global warming is now a box only ticked by those with a corporate deathwish. And American presidents.

Musical Force

With its high-profile ability to espouse and preach, and ever at the forefront of major social change, the music industry is doing its bit. And if 2007 is the year when the green message arrived in the heartland of cool, its Elvis-style figurehead – and the live event to dominate the most column inches – is undoubtedly Live Earth. By the time the nine concerts on seven continents occur in July, anyone unaware of the shows can only have spent the last six months in a remote Micronesian island cave. With a potential audience of over 2 billion, and enough media partners (39 web portals, 120 TV networks etc.) to topple governments, it promises to “launch a global campaign giving a critical mass of people around the world the tools they need to help solve the climate crisis.”

In fact, with the weight of artist support – from the worthy cause stalwarts such as Madonna and Dave Mathews Band, to relative newcomers such as Razorlight and Wolfmother – the green bandwagon could soon need reinforced suspension.

The media has been quick to draw conclusions of profiteering by acts who face declining record sales, and even the creator of global charity gigs, Sir Bob Geldof, has questioned the event’s motivation, but away from the inevitable spotlight scrabble that occurs around any such prominent an issue, Live Earth is practising what it preaches.

The concerts will be carbon neutral, and where possible, run on renewable energy or generators powered by bio-fuels. Food and drink stands will use compostable containers and hybrid cars will be used to ferry artists to the stage from their hotels, which will have been fitted with low-energy light bulbs and recycling containers in each room.

“We’ve developed a Live Earth Green Guideline manual,” says head of global green team John Rego. “It covers, from beginning to end, the entire process of putting on a live event or concert, such as dealing with energy, waste and transport for audience and artist.”

With venues ranging from the new Wembley Stadium to a field 60km from Johannesburg, the green possibilities differ vastly, but Rego hopes the 24-hour music marathon will provide a benchmark for the live industry. “Using what we’re learning and the metrics we’ll be capturing, we should be able to formalise the guidelines for more of a general use, which is relevant to all of these types of concerts,” he says.

Cooling Efforts

The premise of Live Earth, and the truth about any music industry effort to be more environmentally responsible, is that artists speak louder than words; you can recycle a million cans at a festival, but it’ll have scant impact compared to Snoop Dog mentioning that he washes his socks at 30degrees. Live Earth is not the only global campaign to operate along this line of thought.

“If you look at what’s happening with climate change and politics, we’re very stuck at the political level and Bush has once again just said he’s not going to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol or anything like it,” says Fanny Calder, head of strategy for Global Cool, a 10-year movement to encourage a billion people to reduce their carbon emissions by one tonne of CO₂ a year. The idea is simple: in exchange for exclusive internet, TV or mobile content, the public promises to change their habits a little, and high profile events have already included Maroon 5, Scissor Sisters, KT Tunstall and actors Leonardo Di Caprio, Orlando Bloom and Josh Hartnett.

“We’re using old school rules of finding spots in the calendar for multi-platform, broadcast led events and initiatives,” says head of live music Paul McDonald. “We’re using big brands and their marketing support and their own consumers to underpin the campaign.”

And like Live Earth, the campaign involves two strands: its main public face, and a less visible, industry-specific initiative to ensure its ambassadors are as green in their lives as they’re asking others to be.

Taylor Grant is a carbon coach for Global Cool, who works with bands to ‘cool’ tours.  “It’s definitely gaining traction here in the US,” he says. “You’re seeing bands incorporating changes through their entire tours.” His advice covers every facet of touring: transport should use biodiesel, venues can implement recycling programmes both front and back of house and caterers can source local, organic food and carry reusable service wear or use biodegradable, agricultural plastic material, while any surplus food is donated to local food banks and charities. Accommodation choice can be influenced by the environmental practice of the hotel, and finally, a switch to sustainable merchandise made from organic or fair trade cotton, or bamboo.

Ringing the Change

Long the black sheep of environmental issues, in touring at least, the US is on a par with Europe. Another consultant in all things earthy is Portland-based Reverb Touring which provides green co-ordinators to manage the environmentally aware elements of tours by the likes of Barenaked Ladies, John Mayer, Jack Johnson and Dave Mathews Band. Reverb also encourages ‘eco-villages’ at shows – an environmental bazaar promoting alternative energy technologies, local and national non-profit organisations, enviro-friendly products, voter registration and more.

“We meet the artist wherever they’re at,” says Reverb’s Lauren Sullivan. “We might just look after the biodiesel on the tour so we’ll research all the pumps and suppliers and make sure everyone gets paid.”

But it’s not just about touring, and in the live sector, the biggest polluter is ironically the events first founded on tree-hugging ideals and a quest to commune with nature: festivals. Indeed, as T in the Park promoter Geoff Ellis says: “The greenest festival is one that doesn’t happen.” In the UK, nowhere is the dramatic shift towards green clearer than at Live Nation’s Download, the self-proclaimed “dirtiest festival in the country.”

“It took Stuart [Galbraith – Download’s promoter] a £250,000 [€368,000] landfill bill to wake up to it, and now they’ve got lift share plans, recyclers on site and they’re doing an awful lot to minimise their waste,” says Ben Challis at sustainability resource AGreenerFestival.com. “It’s a good example of where, even if promoters don’t want to do it ethically, they should do it economically.”

In order to clean up its heavy rock event, Live Nation is working with the new green wing of APL Event, led by environmental manager Andrew Haworth. “We’ll have environmental auditors on site from build and set up through the event and the break down to see exactly what’s going on and what the environmental impact really is,” he says.

Truly Greenfield

APL is another consultancy using knowledge gained in the corporate or banking sector – traditional early adopters, if only to assess possible risk to profits – but when it comes to providing a vision of sustainable possibilities, some festivals have been leading by example for years.

Whether by being tied to the aftermath of hippydom such as Glastonbury and Roskilde, or faced with environmentally sensitive sites such as Oya’s early residence on a Norwegian bird reserve, many of the kingpin European festivals were adopting green measures when the term ‘carbon neutral’ was more associated with cleaning coal dust from a leaky chimney.

“We were definitely one of the first festivals to start adopting an environmental awareness,” says Roskilde’s green head Thomas Niebuhr. “It was after we commissioned an environmental study in 1994.”

Roskilde runs a refund system on all cups and lids on site and many items brought into the festival. Danish beer cans receive 1 Kroner, German beer cans (outside of the Danish deposit system) receive 1 Kroner for five. Organisers work with an NGO in Copenhagen to pass on discarded sleeping bags and tents, and have invested in automatic light switches and low energy bulbs. Last year, Roskilde collected 1.5million cans, 5,000 sleeping bags and recycled 300 tonnes of waste.

Recycling programmes at festivals are almost de rigueur these days, partly incentivised by landfill taxes rising by 10-15% per year. EU targets to reduce landfilled biodegradable waste by 75%, 50% and 35% of 1995 amounts in the years 2006, 2009 and 2016 is guaranteeing that as the financial penalties for waste rise, recycling becomes economically preferable, as well as morally correct.

And Oya’s environmental compliance manager, Arnt Andersen, is adamant that the festival saves money through best practise: “Everyone thinks it costs more, but it doesn’t cost us anything extra. Environmental partners pay us to be involved and we get sponsors that no-one else gets – one of our first was Ikea, who chose us because of our environmental focus. We’re financially better off being green.”

As well as recycling and refund schemes, Oya has ditched traditional food vans in favour of gourmet ecological food – freshly prepared by restaurants in Oslo – which costs no more than 60 Kroner (€7) per dish. By promoting local industry the scheme receives government funding which covers 10% of the costs involved.

Another shining green light in the festival world is Paléo Festival Nyon in Switzerland. Touted as a model event by European festival organisation Yourope, Paléo is aiming to recycle 40% of its waste this July, and see a similar proportion of its audience arrive by public transport in 2008. The festival uses 100% renewable energy, and even provides ear plugs and quiet zones to selectively limit noise pollution.

But Paléo, like most festivals, is working within limitations. “We don’t have reusable cups because we couldn’t find a company that could provide us with enough,” says spokesperson Chantal Bellon. “We’d need a million for six days, and the only company was 300km away.”

Stake and a Claim

Even while some events wait for supply chains to catch up, Australian promoter Peter Noble believes that for festivals to make a significant shift towards sustainability they must own their own site. Last month, Noble bought a 300-acre site at Byron Bay on which to host his annual five-day Bluesfest, and by investing in water treatment plants, solar and turbine energy and self composting toilets he hopes Bluesfest will have zero environmental impact within five years.

He says: “We’ve had cornstarch plates and plantation timber knives and forks for ten years now, we recycle everything we can and our compost waste is distributed to organic gardens in the area, but as with any event on a rented site, we’ve been somewhat constrained by what we can do environmentally.”

Looking ahead, Noble sees the bar of what sustainable events can achieve rising far beyond present limitations.  “Recycling can definitely surpass 70 or 80%,” he says. “In the UK you can rent a complete circus tent with sound and lights that will run on solar power for up to 1,000 people. If it’s 1,000 people in 2007, then it’s an achievable goal to have a stage for 6,000 people by 2012.”

One such mobile green exemplar is the EartHeart Stage, a solar-powered stage with organic café owned by Sunrise festival boss Sunbird. “We’re pioneering the sustainable music event world,” he claims. The 10,000-capacity festival took place earlier this month in Somerset, featuring nine music stages and arguably the most heavyweight sustainability efforts of any UK festival. The entire event is 85% organic with compost toilets, sustainability audits, tree planting and Eco-Rangers, and ran on 100% renewable energy. 

“We’ve created a hybrid event that we believe will be the next generation of festival, able to link all of the sustainability issues with actually having a good time,” says Sunbird. We’re talking to a group that want us to be able to do it for up to 70,000 people in the run up to the Olympics.”

“We’re grounding it in such a way that it could become massive. The idea would be to replicate it.”

With the abundance of festivals now in existence, a unanimous effort to run sustainable events – albeit in varying stages of development – can only add credence to the green cause. And ultimately, Noble believes that an event’s environmental efforts will be a strong factor in securing certain acts.

“If you’re going to have aware entertainers, then the events in the future that will mostly be able to attract those artists, will be doing best management festivals,” he says. “They’ll be an obvious choice of where to play.”

Building The Future

While festival initiatives are highly visible by both public and artist, they’re by no means the only guilty culprit in the live sector. In 2004, Earls Court in London produced 3,823 tonnes of waste, a figure which has led to a drastic recycling and energy saving programme.

But while Earls Court is faced with a 70-year old venue, one arena has benefited from building a series of green measures into early plans. When it opens in January 2008, the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool will feature rainwater harvesting, natural ventilation, and a power plant 40% more efficient than conventional equipment. Five 20-metre-high elliptical wind turbines will provide 10% of the arena’s base load, and it’s signed up to buy so much renewable energy that Scottish Power has dedicated a wind turbine to it.

“It’s a commercial opportunity as much as anything else,” says GM Tim Banfield. “There’s a huge business case for being green because everybody’s aware of the issue. It’s very much consumer led and anybody that doesn’t do it is going to get left behind.”

APL’s Howarth concurs: “People are starting to look for real clarity in what you’re doing and are now knowledgeable enough to know if you’re talking crap.”

Tools for Change

So what are the options for all the promoters, tour managers, festival owners and venue bosses who’ve managed to bury their heads in a bucket of fossil fuel until now? Well, there are plenty of choices. For one, John Rego at Live Earth is planning to release his Green Handbook after the shows.

It will, he says, be “a manual where you can pull a chapter out and hand it to your productions team or your concessionaires, so they understand all of the pieces of what it means to be a sustainable event.”

Rego is also in conversation with British Standards Institute (BSI), about combining his handbook with the first industry-specific standard for sustainable event management, the BS8901. Live Earth’s Wembley Stadium will be one of the first shows to trial 8901, which will be published in complete form around October.

“It’s quite a revolutionary document,” says Juhi Shareef from Arup, the consultancy which produced the early draft. BSCs are used around the world because they’re good solid standards…this could well end up becoming an international standard.”

And while there’s no legal requirement for event organisers to sign up, Shareef believes that government legislation is possible. “The industry is concerned that it’s on the horizon which is why the standard exists,” she says. “It’s something to show that the industry is being proactive.”

But rather than fretting about sustainable practises being forced into place by government, the live industry should take credit for being way ahead of many other industries.

“The modern thinking is that if you’re putting on an event, you’ve got to reduce wastage, you’ve got to recycle and reuse whatever you can,” says Ben Challis. “The live industry’s not too bad, especially compared to the exhibition industry which is diabolical.”

And there are plenty of positive, profile-raising schemes already in place. AGreenerFestival.com recently launched the Greener Festival awards scheme based on a 60-question checklist. So to did festival organisation Yourope, which launched a Green’n’Clean Award to compliment its existing Green’n’Clean festival handbook. And while there aren’t specific green touring or venue awards so far, it’s presumably just a matter of time.

With so many initiatives and solutions already in place and researched, there are very few reasons for the modern event manager and promoter to not go green. From recycling spent chewing gum into mats for childrens’ playgrounds, to solar powered LED stage lighting, the possibilities are only limited to imagination. And while financial considerations can still be an obstacle, festivals, venues and tours which continue to ignore the bigger picture could find themselves today’s darlings but tomorrow’s social pariahs.

Greg Parmley