



Phish is teaming up once again with Reverb Rock to lighten their summer tour’s carbon footprint!





[Phish at Hampton Coliseum, 2009. Creative Commons photo by Bryan Sereny]

Portland, Maine-based Reverb is a non profit organization that helps bands reduce their tours’ impacts through education and action. They’ve worked on over 70 tours and 1000 events since their launch in 2004, saving 62,608 tons of CO2 and reaching over 8 million fans! They helped Phish reduce the impact of their Hampton Coliseum shows earlier this year, and now they’ve announced some exciting initiatives for the summer tour!



Resources for Fans

Like they did for the Hampton shows, Phish and Reverb are teaming up with Pickup Pal to help fans find carpools to and from shows. Since many fans hit up multiple shows, driving hundreds of miles from town to town, this has a huge potential impact! Not only are they providing the resource, Phish has added an extra incentive! Check out this blurb from their recent newsletter:

After each show on this summers’ tour, we will pick twenty random Phish Ride Share participants to receive a free download of that night’s show. Please visit http://www.pickuppal.com/pup/erp/ for more information and to find the shows that you may be driving to or need a ride to.

The band set up a resource site through Reverb, Traveling Light, where fans can look up eco-friendly places to stay, eat, play, and even volunteer while on tour. They’re also encouraging fans to offset their trip’s impact through Native Energy.

Phish shows are known for their lots, where folks hang out before and after the show. This year the band is getting a little more involved! There will be a Green Crew providing bags for both trash and recyclables. There will also be recycling bins inside the venues, as well as a table for The Waterwheel Foundation, which organizes Phish’s charitable activities. There, fans will be able to learn about and support local non profits.

The Band

They’re not leaving it all up to us, though. The guys have some cool initiatives that they’re taking on, too! All of their tour trucks and buses are running bio diesel, and they’re using eco-friendly cleaning supplies on tour buses. They’re also working with Reverb to reduce backstage waste and energy usage, as well as recycling backstage. Even with all their efforts, all that traveling is still going to have an impact. That’s why they’re using “carbon offsets to neutralize all CO2 emissions from touring fleet, air travel, hotel accommodations, and venue energy use.”

I was most excited to hear what they were planning in the way of food services. The band and crew are all using reusable water bottles instead of bottled water, which is fantastic news! All of their catering products are going to be biodegradable and compostable, and they’re sourcing their food from local, organic farms. The band is also working with local farmers to make sure that their food scraps get composted!

I just love seeing artists like Phish who take responsibility for their environmental impact. Not only does it mean their tour has a lighter footprint, but they’re spreading the word about sustainable practices to their thousands of fans.

Just for kicks, and mostly because I cannot wait to hit up the Asheville and Knoxville shows, here’s Phish doing Antelope at the second Hampton Coliseum show from 3/7/09:

