CD vs. LP: Which is greener?

The website Spinner.com recently put together a list of 10 artists that are going green through different methods, whether it's using more eco-friendly tour vehicles, using recycled materials for CD packaging, or simply singing about and raising awareness of conservation issues. This got me thinking about the different music related things I own that would be considered green. I've blogged about CD cases before, and the different ways in which they are packaged, but I decided to take a closer look.

As you can see, I have a pretty good size CD collection (somewhere in the ballpark of 200 or so, but I haven't counted recently). After browsing through all of them, I could only find one that had any kind of recycled packaging: Potemkin City Limits by Propagandhi (the booklet is printed on 100% post-consumer, recycled paper). This wasn't too surprising, seeing as the Canadian punk band is very active in animal rights and environmental issues. After doing a little research, I discovered the type of plastic that CD cases are made from, polystyrene, is not recyclable, so all of those CDs, when they're thrown away, will just end up in a landfill somewhere. Whether or not you can recycle the paper booklets that come with the CD is a different story, and depends on the kind of paper that it is printed on.

But what about other musical mediums? I also own a few vinyl LPs, thanks to my recent purchase of a record player:

According to The Vinyl Institute, which deals with recycling vinyl products in all forms, anything made of vinyl can be recycled and reused. So, unlike CDs, records don't have to be thrown away. I recently made the decision to start purchasing most of my music in LP form. Not only are more artists (especially those on independent labels) releasing new albums in this tried-and-true format, but the sound quality is in some ways superior to CDs, and thanks to their larger size, LP sleeves often have more artwork and generally give a richer musical experience. Sometimes, they can even be cheaper than CDs. Plus, trying to find rare releases or all of your favorite albums in vinyl format can be a fun challenge for any music collector. So, before you dismiss the vinyl resurgence as just another hipster fad, think about the ways that this versatile format can help the planet.

Something for the kids

It's like the old saying goes: the children are our future, unless we stop them now. Okay, so that's not exactly how it goes, but it is true that kids today are growing up hearing about global warming and environmentalism, so it's important that they are educated about the planet as much as possible. Well, that learning doesn't have to come in the form of stuffy documentaries by Al Gore, it can be fun!

Photo courtesy of the Banana Slug String Band website

Case in point: the Banana Slug String Band. They're a band made up of teachers and musicians from Santa Cruz, California who play children's music and encourage learning about the environment, nature, and science. They also use interactive demonstrations to get kids interested in learning about the world around them. Think Raffi crossed with Sesame Street. They've released several CDs of music, and have won many children's music awards. You can even schedule them to give workshops and perform at your school. In addition, they support organic farms and other Earth-friendly resources. To check out some of their music, you can listen to a clip of the song "Singing to the Moon," and you can find more clips on their ordering page.

Sure, it may sound kind of silly to us, but anyone who has children or younger siblings will tell you that kids love colorful characters and fun songs and really embrace that kind of learning. Even those of us who are older can maybe take a break from reading all the gloomy warnings about global catastrophe and have fun singing along to a song about a moose.

A follow-up on guitars and the environment

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the effect that guitars and guitar making can have on the environment, due to their use of exotic woods. It turns out that this is a much more widespread problem than I previously thought. Greenpeace has launched the Music Wood Campaign, which seeks to find alternatives to using exotic woods in instrument making and also to educate people on where the materials that make their instruments come from. According to a Kansas City Star article posted on the website, instrument makers have had to either find different woods to create their instruments, or drastically raise prices to reflect the scarcity of the materials.

For instance, Martin acoustic guitars made of Rosewood may have cost $600-$800 3o years ago, but now go for an astronomical $10,000-$12,000, well out of the price range of the average guitar player. Also in danger is the Sitka Spruce, which is used in a variety of instruments. The species itself is not endangered, but there are fewer and fewer trees of the right age and size to make good instruments. Manufacturers have turned to cheaper, more available species of wood to use, but at the cost of changing the tone and character of the instrument.

This can be seen as a microcosm of conservation in general. As we use up more and more of the planet's resources, we find that the things that we took for granted are simply not there anymore, and we are forced to find inferior alternatives. Every guitar player and musician deserves to get the finest sound quality available when they play, but that won't be possible unless we take greater care of our resources.

Green record labels

As I mentioned last month, some record labels are attempting to limit their impact on the environment by eliminating plastic CD cases. Now, though, some labels are taking the "green" philosophy even further. Last year, Wired Magazine reported that Sub Pop Records was the first record label to go 100% green. Sub Pop made its mark in the 1990s by helping to launch Nirvana's career, and it quickly established itself as one of the biggest independent labels in the country (it was also the final home of indie-rock legends Sleater-Kinney, who just happen to be one of my favorite bands). Sub Pop was able to offset its carbon dioxide output by buying "green tags" from the Bonnevillle Environmental Foundation. These "green tags" are vouchers that can be purchased as subsidies to fund sources of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power. Anyone can buy these "green tags" by simply using BEF's "carbon calculator" to determine their output and then buying the tags in $20 and $24 increments.

Sub Pop isn't the only label to make a concerted effort to reduce its environmental impact. Earthology Records, founded by the band Cloud Cult, takes this idea to a whole other level. The label is based on an organic farm in Minnesota, powered by geothermal and wind energy, where the band personally recycles and cleans old plastic CD jewel cases and packages the CDs in recycled paper and non-toxic shrink wrap. The band also donates all profits to environmental charities. Not only is this attitude helpful to the environment, but it brings back a certain do-it-yourself ethic to music that is very rare these days. Time will tell if other labels follow the lead of Earthology and Sub Pop, but until then they will continue to set an eco-friendly example.

NOTE: At the time of this blog post, Earthology Records' website had been hacked and was unavailable.