The Green Music Group Strikes a Chord for Sustainability

The music industry isn't exactly known for its sustainability initiatives—and with the combined carbon footprint of tours, concerts, videos, and albums, it takes some major star power to hit the green notes.

Luckily, Guster vocalist/guitarist Adam Gardner and his wife, Lauren Sullivan, were already on the case with the founding of their environmental organization, Reverb—and now they're taking it one step further with the Green Music Group. With the support of founding members including Linkin Park, Dave Matthews Band, Willie Nelson, The Roots, Sheryl Crow, Guster, Barenaked Ladies, Bonnie Raitt, and Maroon 5; venues like the American Airlines Arena, the Comcast Center, and the Brooklyn Bowl; and labels Brushfire Records and Warner Music Group, the GMG wants to make big changes by targeting small tasks--to "harness the collective power of the entire music community to affect millions of individual actions, bringing about measurable global environmental change," according to the website.

Since its 2004 start-up, Reverb alone cut more than 67,000 tons of carbon from the music industry and greened 81 tours by setting up outreach displays at concerts, partnering with other environmental groups, adding green requests to bands' riders, offering biodiesel fuel for tour vehicles, and encouraging recycling and waste reduction. So what can you expect from the GMG? New standards for venues, labels, and tours; green grants given to up-and-coming artists; environmental challenges aimed at members; and prizes donated by the groups (from signed guitars to free concert tickets).

Find our more about the group—and hear from some of the artists involved—in this video from the launch party