Who’s Who in Green: Adam Gardner

Many people may already know Adam Gardner from his band Guster, in which he sings and plays guitar.  But playing music isn’t Adam’s only passion – he’s also an environmental activist, having co-founded Reverb with his wife, environmentalist Lauren Sullivan.  Reverb greens up summer tours, making sure that all that partying has as small a footprint on the earth as possible.

There’s a certain stereotype of musicians trashing everyplace they go – from hotel rooms to stadiums – but not all musicians go around wasting resources and littering just for the hell of it.  Adam says many of them want to do better, but they lack the know-how and resources.  That’s where Reverb comes in.

Adam and Lauren were inspired to start Reverb when he was touring with Guster back in 2004 and they barely had a chance to see each other.  Looking for a way to merge their worlds, Lauren realized how powerful it can be to have artists back causes.  They decided to help bands that wanted to go green, doing all of the research for them and making it easy for them to stick to their commitment.

Reverb has worked with acts like Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Panic at the Disco, The Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sheryl Crow.  Reverb has helped green more than 50 tours, reducing 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide and distributing about 250,000 gallons of biodiesel to music acts.  Reverb’s greening services include recycling, waste reduction, green bus supplies and cleaners, biodegradable catering products, energy efficiency, a green contract rider, eco-friendly merchandise and green sponsorship.

Reverb also helps spread the message to fans through interactive exhibits at concerts, like their ‘Eco Village’.  The Eco Village creates a festival-like atmosphere and puts the spotlight on local and national non-profits, as well as green technologies and eco-friendly samples.  Fans can offset their own carbon, register to vote and sign up to win prizes.  Each Eco Village is built to reflect the band’s causes and interests.

Adam also testified on Capitol Hill last fall about the benefits of biofuel to the music industry, telling Billboard Magazine, “I’ve never been more nervous in my life.  I basically said, ‘We’d love for Reverb to be out of business, as far as coordinating biodiesel for tours,’ ” he says. “[Artists] should be able to pull up to any ol’ truck stop and get it. It shouldn’t be something we have to find for tours.”

Of Reverb’s use of carbon offsets, Adam told Ecorazzi,

“Let’s talk about offsets for a sec. The NY Times has been running a bunch [of articles] about it lately. This is what I think about offsets: I think obviously you need to reduce your footprint first and foremost. You gotta do what you can to be more efficient, use less energy and create less carbon. So obviously you are shrinking your footprint first.

“And then there is some inevitable footprint left over - well then what do you do with that? That’s where I think offsets do come in. And the key to offsets is making sure that you’re buying them from the right place. Because carbon offsets are not created equal.

“There are a lot people out there that see dollar signs and are selling things that aren’t carbon offsets. We use Native Energy and what I like about them is that money goes directly towards building new renewable energy sources like wind farms and solar arrays. So to me that’s what you want to do, you want to be able to point to something and say that got built with my help. And that’s an offset - you’re creating something that otherwise wouldn’t have existed without your help. Help being in this case, simply buying renewable energy credits.”

As the world becomes more environmentally aware, no doubt more musicians will be looking to green up their act.  Adam Gardner has helped start a revolution in the music industry, and the world is far better off for it.

Adam Gardner’s Green Score: 28,983

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