Music and environment
By Robert Lines
Nov. 23, 2008 10:09 p.m.
A year and five months on from the first “Live Earth” concerts, the prevalence of both local and global musical projects associated with “green” living suggests the continued growth of a culture of environmentalism.
Next month sees the second “Live Earth” concert take place, titled “Live Earth India.” The concert, like its 2007 sister concerts, has been partly organized by Al Gore. The event is to be held in Mumbai, India, on Dec. 7.
“Live Earth India” comes shortly after UCLA’s “Live Aid 2008″ ““ a benefit concert aimed at raising student interest in local environmental initiatives.
Alan Lewis, a fourth-year engineering student who organized “Live Aid,” described the concept behind the UCLA concert.
“The idea was to have a venue for people to come and go freely. In essence, every organization was to take a corner in order for them to get in touch with people about the environment.”
The concert played host to many UCLA groups such as Bruin Harmony, Signature a Capella, Awaken a Capella and MEDleys a Capella.
The local band The Getty Rocks also performed at the event. Ron Schmidtling, the leader of the band and a UCLA geology alumnus, described the connections between the creative arts and environmental issues as a continuum.
“There’s art, there’s science, there’s construction. Nothing is in a compartment ““ everything flows from one to the next,” he said.
Schmidtling’s songs contain lyrics directly about the environment. It’s an approach that he believes can help get the issues into people’s consciousness.
“I think it can go one more step if somebody is learning the lyrics to the song and singing along,” he said.
As well as cultivating an environmentally focused aesthetic, the local event provided a platform for a more personal approach to green issues.
It may be that in the future, smaller benefit concerts become more common, with critics arguing that the wider “Live Earth” concerts consume too much energy.
However, Lewis stressed that there is place for both local and global events.
“”˜Live Earth’ hit at the right time. After, readers around the world were addressing these issues,” he said. “People were starting to talk about how people can be more sustainable. After that it took off.”
Other high-profile musicians such as Björk and Thom Yorke have also been actively pursuing environmental goals for a while.
The two musicians collaborated on Björk’s recent single “Náttúra,” from which all the proceeds will go to the Náttúra environmental campaign, the Icelandic organization co-founded by Björk.
Members of Radiohead also canceled their trip to perform on Conan O’Brien earlier this year because of concerns about the plane fuel they would have used up.
Other measures the band has implemented include a new lighting rig that is powered by superefficient generators, deals with trucking companies to cut their emissions as well as a decision to only play venues that have good public transport links.
Promoters and touring artists aren’t the only ones in the music industry responding to climate change. In light of the 1.8 billion annual CD sales worldwide, 615 million of which are in the U.S., Warner Music Group has changed to 30 percent postconsumer recycled paper in its CDs’ paper inserts and packaging.
Amoeba Music in Hollywood has also taken green measures, including the store’s “Big Green Box,” which offers a place for music fans to take their old iPods, batteries and Walkmans. Karen Pearson, manager at the Hollywood location, described why the store is taking such steps.
“In regards to music ““ whether people are at a concert, or whether they are at a store ““ it’s a constant reminder. It’s possible. A responsibility to the planet is a universal thing.”
Since its opening in 1990, Amoeba has been donating to Rainforest Action Network. Its campaign also contains its “10 Steps for a Greener Tomorrow,” which can be viewed at the Think Green Web site at amoeba.com/content/think-green.html.
As the green movement continues to find outlets in music-related projects, Lewis said he hopes that further benefit concerts will take place at UCLA, giving students more opportunities to find out about ways in which they can help the environment.
“USAC could be a bigger force in pushing something like this than I can imagine. There are certainly possibilities for the future; the real dilemma that we face is just cultivating students’ interest as the year moves on.”
