Welcome to Season 5 of Earth Care!

Welcome to Season 5 of Earth Care, where we’ll explore sustainability in the live music industry! This season launches the first "series edition" of the podcast where each conversation will dive deeper into one theme. 

Earth Care Host, Sarah Christie, is prepared to unpack the intersection of music, creativity, and environmental responsibility.

Get ready to meet industry experts who will share insights, experiences, and innovative solutions that are shaping a more sustainable future for live music events.

From sustainable merchandise, to upcycled pianos, to sustainable aviation fuel, we will explore how the music industry is embracing sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint. 

Additionally, we’ll chat with guests who have collaborated with superstar musicians like U2, Jack Johnson, Billie Eilish and more to make their tours more sustainable. We’ll also meet musicians who have made the climate crisis a top priority within their art, like Filkin’s Drift, a folk duo who ditched driving and walked their nearly 900 mile tour. 

The first interview from this series will be released on Tuesday, April 9th, 2024!! 

Episode Transcription:

How sustainable is the live music industry?

SARAH: Hello, thanks for checking out Earth Care the podcast where we have climate conscious conversations in a not so overwhelming way. I'm your host, Sarah Christie and I'm so excited to tell you what's in store for this next season before we get into that. If this is your first time hitting play on Earth Care, welcome. If you've been here before, welcome back. But FYI: we're changing it up a bit.

Now, previously, Earth Care has been a short form interview series where we talk to climate heroes, experts, entrepreneurs and get their take on how we can help save the planet. And it still is that. But with a theme who doesn't love a good theme. This means all of the guests on this season of Earth Care will fall under the umbrella of that same conversation and to kick it off the very first Earth Care theme is sustainability in the live music industry.

Why?

Well, we love a theme but we love music even more. Live music is community, live music is unbridled joy, live music is dancing and singing at the top of your lungs and absolutely ruining your concert videos because you can't stop singing in the background.

Personally, most of my absolute favoUrite memories that I cherish with my family and friends are thanks to live music. On a large scale, it's walking on the street towards the venue on concert day and feeling that excitement in the air of everyone walking in that same direction. It's a safe space to let loose, wear a fun outfit, talk to strangers and come together over something we all love, music.

It's hearing the radio announcer talk about the show on air as you're in the car on your way there. It's blasting the music from your car full of adrenaline while you're waiting in traffic on your way out after the show and is yes, absolutely worth being tired the next day. It's also just getting out of your house on a rainy Saturday afternoon, heading to the pub to hear a local band, walking around a new city, hearing new music in the distance and joining a crowd of people who have collectively paused their day to take a moment to enjoy free live music on the street.

How boring would life be without music? Sure. That's an understatement, but it's bigger than that. We need music. It organically becomes part of our identity in every way through memories, through friendships, through relationships. For example, think about a part time job you had when you were a teenager, you can probably associate a song with that. If we've met before, you know, that I will find any opportunity to talk about Beyonce and tell you all the reasons that you should love her because part of my identity is being a member of the Beyhive.

There is just something so special about how we all connect to music in our own way though, right? You know, we might love the same song, but for different reasons, it's our own little thing, our own moment.

Music helps us create memories and then allows us to relive and unlock those moments as time goes by. That's probably why so many artists have said that once they release music, it's no longer theirs. We, the fans just take it and run. I wanted to really paint the picture of what that can look like. So I asked friends to tell me what music means to them, which I'll admit is a hilariously broad question and so tough to answer because which song, you know, That's How Strong My Love is by Otis Redding means something very different to me than What Do You Mean by Justin Bieber. But hey, they came through! This is from Emma:

“I have this playlist called Trail Tunes and it's songs I listen to when I'm camping and hiking. And usually every trip there's a song I play on repeat that I connect with a special memory. This Too Shall Sass by Jamestown Revival was my dog Maggie's last camping trip. And I remember playing it while the dogs were sleeping in the tent. I was making tea on the fire and it was a perfect peaceful moment.

I blasted AnneMarie by Will Breman on a backpacking trip and danced alone in the woods, eating pancakes. Call me home by The Dreggs got me through the last 10 kilometers of my backpacking trip. It's a playlist filled with my happiest moments and without failure, every time one of those songs come on, it brings me back to those moments and fills me with so much joy. I camp and hike alone, which I love, vut I don't have anyone to revisit those memories with. The playlist is a special way to relive all of those moments.”

This one is from a teacher friend, they said:

“I have so many students who are new to Canada this year. They can't speak English yet and it sometimes is hard to connect with them. We do Music Mondays and the kids get to pick a song and we all sing along. They love it. They always sing and dance with their friends. We've even had a few songs they know the words to. Music helps us find common grounds and connect in a fun way.”

Actually, similarly, I was once in an Uber and the driver was blasting Mariah Carey, nonstop. No complaints here. I wish that was every Uber ride. So naturally I complimented the playlist. He said that when he moved to Canada, listening to Mariah Carey's music was what helped him learn English, which is just so cool to hear.

This one's from Steph. she said:

“I remember going to see Coldplay with a friend for the first time and I was so embarrassed to tell them that I would 100% break into tears at some point because Parachute means so much to 21 year old me. They said they always cry at concerts too and I knew we'd be friends forever.”

So when we get to see those songs that we've connected with in countless ways live, it can feel like that moment was created just for you. In a room full of 10 people or 20,000 people. That moment is yours.

The other piece of this puzzle is, I'm so fortunate to have been to hundreds of concerts and live music events. Every size, every kind of venue. My parents are massive music fans who have been taken us to shows for as long as I can remember. My first concert was at now Budweiser stage, then Molson Amphitheater in Toronto. Age four, we went as a family to see Meatloaf. A year later, Darien Lake to see the Backstreet Boys.

But on the weekend, we'd also just go to a restaurant nearby and hear live music or we'd bring blankets to the park in the summer and hear whoever was performing there. Still to this day, most weekends when I ask my parents what they're getting up to, it's usually going to hear some kind of live music. In fact, I was texting my mom right before I started recording this and said, what are you doing? She and my dad are off to hear some blues. I can only assume that all of that exposure played a major role in the career I found myself in.

I've worked in radio for over 10 years. Specifically, though, worked in the music department, programming, music for top 40 radio for most of it. So I'm either going to hear music for fun or for work. The work portion has allowed me to see a concert from almost every angle and I truly will never take that for granted. But I can also tell you that at almost every angle, there's waste. One example that will always stand out in my mind is I was backstage at a music festival after the artist had left and the room was still full of all of the catering. A lot of it untouched, still in its plastic wrap. So I asked, hey, what happens to it now? They said it gets thrown out. Completely unopened, edible food. That's a problem.

What about all of the half empty water bottles because someone put theirs down, forgot about it, opened a new one? Or what happens to all of the confetti and balloons after they've been released at the end of a concert? You know, what does that mean for the environment when an arena sized show is releasing balloons at 100 different venues because let's face it in 2024. We can all agree, balloons suck! When we leave a venue and see full slices of pizza in the recycling bin. How do we know if that's actually getting sorted?

The fact that there are people out there making music for us to enjoy, relate to and connect with, how lucky are we? And then to see it live? I mean, come on! But as the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too. And additionally, to quote, the hard working team at Music Declares Emergency, There's no music on a dead planet. As much as we don't just want but need music, we also need to acknowledge the seriousness of the climate crisis. Most of my life has been spent as a cheerleader for music in some capacity. Earth Care has been my way of becoming a cheerleader for this planet. So it's time to find out how those worlds not only can live together but already do.

So if you've ever wondered if your favourite band's merchandise can be produced sustainably, if you're curious about whether or not large venues can truly prioritize recycling, or have you ever thought about what the most commonly discarded item at a music festival is? We're gonna get into all of that and more — here's a taste of what's to come on this season of Earth Care!

MICHAEL MARTIN: When we work with artists, what we will do is we meet the artists find out what their concerns are, what they are willing to do, what they are not willing to do. How aggressive are they willing to be? Like when developed Jack Johnson’s whole platform, it was great because he allowed me to put in their rider that if the venue didn't take some of the steps, they would need to pay a donation, $500 to a local environmental group.

SARAH: Was there a tipping point for you guys that you decided, hey, sustainability really needs to be at the forefront of our music moving forward.

FILKIN’S DRIFT: I think the moment that the idea came, should we just walk? I was kind of sitting in a traffic jam looking over this, this beautiful hillsides in England called the Malvern Hills. And I was like, I'd much rather be there than sitting in this traffic jam sort of thing. So I think that was the moment that we thought this doesn't feel like the most sustainable. This doesn't feel like the best way that we could be touring and using our time.

SARAH: Who have you worked with so far? Who's donated their guitar strings?

WEAR YOUR MUSIC: We have all three members that play strings in Metallica, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo.

HILLSIDE FESTIVAL: We offer a free shuttle bus during the festival weekend. It runs continually between downtown Guelph and our festival site, which of course is about 10 minutes outside of Guelph in a conservation area. We offer an organized bike ride that takes place from the city out to the conservation area. So, you know, many folks take their bikes and use active transportation when they're coming out to the festival. And there's sort of a group activity you can take part in.

PIANODROME: It's an in the round theater with tiered seating made of five sections and each section has a playable piano embedded into the structure and Also a stairway with balustrades and every part of it down to the flathead screws is made out of old pianos.

WEAR YOUR MUSIC: We have Joan Jett, James Taylor, Bonnie Rait, Joan Baez, Tommy Emmanuel who just won a Grammy at the Grammy Awards.

THE CLIMATE GIG: And another thing that fans can do is also encourage the artists and venues that they're going to, to offer these sustainable solutions. So the Climate Gig can actually be integrated into the ticket booking website of an artist or a venue. And then fans can just choose to reduce their emissions when they're also buying their tickets.

WEAR YOUR MUSIC: Even things like Duran, Duran, we get people saying, hey, we didn't know Simon Le Bon played the guitar. He does.

ENERGY FLOORS: What we do is we capture the energy of people dancing, jumping or walking and convert it into usable electricity. So we always say the harder people party, the better it is for the world.

SARAH: Yes!! I'm so excited and can't wait for you to join me as we meet industry experts who have collaborated with superstar musicians like Coldplay, U2, Billie Eilish, Jack Johnson. Plus, we're going to be meeting musicians who have made the climate crisis a top priority within their art. And if this quick conversation already has you eager to take action, I launched a pledge. It's called Fans Choose To Reuse, which is a call to action for music lovers and concert goers to help reduce plastic pollution by bringing a reusable water bottle to live music events. Now, not every venue allows reusable water bottles *yet.* But, you'd be surprised at how many do! So, every episode of this series, I’ll include venues in Canada that allow reusable water bottles to help take some of that research off your plate.

If there's a venue or city that you specifically want to know about, send me a message at @earthcareshow on Instagram. Let's kick it off with a few venues here in Toronto: Rogers Centre where Taylor Swift will be performing for six nights in November has some of the best water refill stations and totally allows guests to bring their own bottles. Scotiabank Arena! Budweiser stage, which is an important one as we get into summer concert season and heat warnings, you got to stay safe. More information on the #FansChooseToReuse pledge, I'll include that in the show notes if you want to check it out and hey, add your name to the pledge! Quick tip, if you are bringing a reusable water bottle, most venues request that they're on the smaller and softer side so they aren't hard and being used as a weapon. So avoid metal and glass bottles.

If you haven't already done it, I invite you to hit follow or subscribe to the Earth Care podcast wherever you are listening. That way you'll see whenever a new episode is out. But it also really helps me with growing this show and reaching more people with this conversation about sustainability, which is so crucial right now. So I appreciate you for listening and following along. It really does mean the world to me.

OK. So, we've established that we share a love of music. We know this, BUT we also share this planet, our home and it's time to take care of it.

And that's exactly what we'll be getting into on this next season of Earth Care.

FINISHED.