Pearl Jam, Foos, Coldplay, More Fight Global Warming
This summer, Pearl Jam, Coldplay and Foo Fighters are ensuring that their tours don’t contribute to global warming. The goal for these bands is to reduce carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacturing of their albums and the production of their tours. With the help of the environmental group Future Forests, Coldplay planted 10,000 oxygen-generating mango trees in India to offset the CO2 emitted during the production of their latest CD, A Rush of Blood to the Head.
Artists such as Foo Fighters, Bonnie Raitt and Dave Matthews Band, as well as this year’s Warped Tour, have initiated similar projects.
Pearl Jam have taken the biggest jump. For their fifty-six-date tour this past spring, they figured out the environmental costs, including travel, lighting, sound and fuel, and concluded that they, and their fans, will emit around 5,600 tons of CO2. To pay it back, the band has donated $35,000 toward preserving a rain forest in Madagascar. Says guitarist Stone Gossard, “If we can inspire people to start thinking about their own carbon emissions, that’s the goal.”
This story is from the July 10th, 2003 issue of Rolling Stone.