Advent Blog

Major events are noto­ri­ously eco–unfriendly affairs.  Here is some inspi­ra­tion from Jack Johnson to green up your events.

Singer-songwriter, Jack Johnson, was reared with a surf­board under his arm and sand between his toes on the par­a­disi­a­cal North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.  While most of us are lucky just to have a back­yard, his back­yard was the world’s most famous wave, Banzai Pipeline.  When the waves turned into enor­mous crash­ing mon­strosi­ties they would rat­tle his bed­room win­dows at night while he dreamed of becom­ing a pro­fes­sional surfer.  No doubt, a child­hood spent in inti­mate com­mu­nion with nature’s own play­ground has inspired his zeal for pro­tect­ing the environment.

When not wear­ing board shorts he is wear­ing a t-shirt and jeans and rarely incar­cer­ates his feet within shoes’ restric­tive con­fines.  His man­ner­isms are relaxed.  And his humil­ity is accen­tu­ated by his unas­sum­ing nature and com­pli­mented by his laid-back demeanor.  But don’t let his chilled-out surfer dude per­sona fool you.  He is moti­vated.  The pro surf­ing gig didn’t work out and now, at age 33, he is a multi-platinum sell­ing mega-star who has sold mil­lions of albums.  He has turned his bound­less pas­sion and knack for suc­cess towards reduc­ing his impact on the envi­ron­ment.  And that’s a daunt­ing mis­sion for a singer on tour.  “We started doing shows in 1998, first in clubs, then in the­aters, then in amphithe­aters.  And one day, you look around, and you real­ize there are trucks and buses and the tour has a pretty large car­bon foot­print” (Fast Company).

Music indus­try events are noto­ri­ously high impact affairs.  Huge, grum­bling trucks and tour buses guz­zle gas and spew pol­lu­tants as they roar from city to city. Masses of fans drive from miles away to stand in long lines for food and drinks that are also shipped in from far away, pro­duced waste­fully, and wrapped in plas­tic con­tain­ers, great heap­ing moun­tains of which will be around for their great-grandchildren’s great-grandchildren.  And its not just music indus­try events: busi­ness events, fes­ti­vals, fund rais­ers, ral­lies, and trade shows are all tra­di­tion­ally big wasters.  Jack Johnson is try­ing to change that in sev­eral pro­found ways.  Importantly, his efforts help cre­ate and sup­port the emerg­ing green mar­ket which cre­ates more options and oppor­tu­ni­ties for other com­pa­nies.  Here are some of the things he is doing:

Green Band Actions on Tour:

• Providing on-site water sta­tions, waste man­age­ment, and recy­cling services.
• Utilizing reusable water bot­tles that can be refilled on-site.
• Fueling tour vehi­cles and/or gen­er­a­tors with sus­tain­able biodiesel
• Offering eco-friendly tour merchandise
• Selecting environmentally-conscious travel and hotel options.
• Procuring locally grown and organic foods for back­stage catering
• Offsetting all remain­ing CO2 emis­sions from the tour and for each night’s show using a unique CO2 Offset Strategy.
• Encouraging fans to join in

For the Fans:

• There is a CO2 off­set pur­chase option when you pur­chase your tickets.
• They can Explore videos by local non-profits on the All At Once site and Jack Johnson will donate $1 per view to those orga­ni­za­tions through his new char­ity, the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation.
• All At Once Volunteer Calendar: to help fans get involved.
• The Village Green located at the show offers a forum for non profits.
• Usually there’s VIP park­ing for car­pools and hybrid vehicles.
• Donations to the local non-profits at the show and online will be matched by Jack’s new char­ity (up to $2,500 US dollars).

(for the com­plete list visit http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/home )

Notably, he is using his fame as a plat­form and his show as a forum to encour­age and edu­cate his fans to be more eco-friendly.  And it cer­tainly doesn’t hurt brand Jack Johnson.  He gains respect, cred­i­bil­ity, and free press (like this arti­cle) through his envi­ron­men­tally respon­si­ble behavior.

Mellow tones and upbeat beats flow from his gui­tar like the rhythm of rolling waves crash­ing on the North Shore beaches he calls home.  His voice is smooth and invit­ing as glassy face of impos­si­bly blue 6 foot waves that march in orderly lines towards right-hand point breaks.  His envi­ron­men­tally respon­si­ble actions ben­e­fit the nature he loves and are a great inspi­ra­tion and guide to event orga­niz­ers, providers, mar­keters, and exhibitors who are look­ing to reduce their envi­ron­men­tal impact and make their events green.

RELATED ARTICLES

Swell Guy — Outside Magazine

Green Grow the Rockers — Fast Company

Backstage with Green Rocker Jack Johnson — Focus Earth

Artist Biography — Billboard.com

ADVENT GREEN EVENT ADVICE

Green Display Booth — Teresa Drozak

10 Tips For an Eco-Friendly Trade Show — Bill Taylor

Advent leads from the fore­front of the cut­ting edge mod­ern mar­ket­ing indus­try by fuel­ing events with the power of brand.  Advent is com­mit­ted to social and envi­ron­men­tal respon­si­bil­ity.  For more, check out Advent’s GREENmark or go to www.adventresults.com.

Tags: eco-friendly, events, green