By Matt Washburn Social Media Management Intern

The following blog was written by one of our Fall 2017 interns. For more information about our internships, visit our internship page here.

We all know the feeling of elation that comes from finding out your favorite band is coming to your city. You instantly go online and buy your tickets, and wait (im)patiently for the day to come. You can’t wait to dance and sing along with Drunk Valet, the best band no one has ever heard of. By the time they’ve reached your city however, chances are they’ve probably traveled hundreds, if not thousands, of miles while playing to different audiences. In the process, they’ve burnt through countless gallons of fuel and have therefore created a large environmental impact.

Let’s say Drunk Valet is going out on a full US tour, lasting for six months and stretching from coast to coast, starting in Boston and ending in Los Angeles. The voyage would be a total of 2,983 miles at the minimum, not accounting for detours.

Drunk Valet is a modest group of performers that can pack bars and maybe small theaters. Therefore, they are traveling in an older 8-passenger van. They’re using the Ford E150 Econoline as their mode of transportation, a staple vehicle of the lower-level touring musician. Since this isn’t a famous or wealthy band by any means, we’ll use the 1996 model that they acquired from Craigslist.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the gas-guzzling ‘96 Econoline gets a lowly combined city/highway 13 miles per gallon. Over the course of the tour, they will use an estimated 180.67 gallons of fuel, costing the band approximately $431.50. That’s a hefty price to pay for a band that probably only makes enough money each night to pay for food and that very fuel itself.

Every cent of that fuel contributes to the tour’s carbon footprint. Based on the EPA estimate, the average amount of carbon emitted by a vehicle per year in the United States is 4.7 metric tons. After plugging in our hypothetical information into University of California Berkeley’s CoolClimate carbon calculator, Drunk Valet’s tour will leave behind approximately 3 metric tons of carbon. At that rate, Drunk Valet’s van will reach the average yearly carbon emissions at roughly eight months.

Along with the carbon footprint that their travel alone leaves behind, their dietary habits on the road have an environmental impact as well. Many bands eat a relatively fast food-heavy diet while touring due to its convenience and affordability, however fast food packaging along with other snack packaging accounts for approximately “40 percent of all litter,” according to One Green Planet. Each burger that the members of Drunk Valet will eat has a surprising carbon footprint behind it as well, with the total emissions behind all factors of its production reaching about 1-5 kg of carbon.

While a band’s tour may have a negative impact on the environment, it would be unrealistic to expect fans to stop going to see live music that they love. Instead, fans must be do their part to further support these musicians. If a band made more money, they’d be able to travel and sustain themselves in a more environmentally friendly way. Instead of downloading music illegally or streaming it on Spotify, purchase it for download online. Instead of whining about the high price of merchandise, just remember that buying it (if you have the means) can make an incredible financial difference for the band. Bands make most of their money from merchandise, and while you may pay for your tickets, venues don’t always give bands a sizable pay out at the end of the night.

So the next time that you go out and see your favorite band, keep in mind that your album purchase may lead to a new touring vehicle with lower carbon emissions and that t-shirt may lead to a healthier diet consisting of cleaner foods. Your support will be beneficial to them and to the world we all share.

Some sources I referenced: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)