Jack Johnson and his crew researched the environmental impacts of previous tours and took action to minimize the footprint of their 2018 tour, tackling travel emissions by using sustainable biodiesel to fuel tour trucks, using ground and sea freight for kit instead of flying and engaging fans in car-pools and lift sharing. The tour team collaborated with the All At Once campaign working with not-for-profit community groups to support sustainable local food systems and plastic free initiatives.
The crew aimed to create a zero waste tour by working with venue operators to create thorough recycling, composting, and other waste diversion systems to reduce the amount of waste headed for the landfill. To tackle plastic they eliminated the use of single-use plastic water bottles by filling up at backstage refill stations, and encouraged fans to ditch disposable plastic cups by promoting a Reusable Pint Program and supporting venues to offer “straws by request” and provide alternatives to plastic straws.
To reduce travel emissions they used sustainable biodiesel to fuel tour trucks, buses and generators throughout North America. Ground and sea freight were used for shipping gear and they encouraged their fans to cut travel emissions by carpooling, taking shuttles and coaches and by riding bikes to get to the show.
At onboard.earth we believe that reducing travel emissions are always the first priority – we’ve produced a Guide to Sustainable Travel for Festivals and Events and one for Artists and the Music Industry – find them on our resources page.
As part of a “farm to stage” catering program, the tour crew worked directly with local farms and purveyors to source locally grown organic foods, with leftover food donated to local community hunger relief organizations. Tour merchandise was made from sustainable materials with a focus on reusables and renewables.
After all energy conservation measures were taken, remaining CO2 emissions for each show and the entire tour were offset through support for a variety of local and sustainable carbon management projects – with fans able to contribute to the carbon balancing programme through with an add when they purchased a ticket.
You can find out more about onboard.earth’s accredited carbon balancing climate solutions programmes Trees+ and Energy Revolution HERE.
Total tour impacts were tracked throughout the tour to demonstrate how collective action can result in significant change and a comprehensive report release post-tour.
Read the report HERE.
Photo credit: Caitlyn Ridenour, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
