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.

Eco-friendly guitars

While thinking about all the ways that music and artists can have an impact on the environment, I realized there was something rather obvious that I had missed: guitars. As a guitar player myself, I know that it's sometimes easy to get lost in playing music and forget that you're playing something that's a huge chunk of wood; rare and high-quality wood at that (well, I guess that depends on the quality of your guitar). I have two guitars: A Fender Stratocaster (on the right), and a DeArmond M-65 (on the left):



According to the Fender, their Standard Stratocasters are made with an alder body, maple neck, and rosewood fretboards (maple fretboards are also available). Maple and alder are fairly prominent North American trees, but Brazilian Rosewood is listed as an endangered species by the World Conservation Union. Consequently, guitar makers have switched from the Brazilian variety to more common varieties from India and Madagascar.

Some guitar makers are taking it upon themselves to find more environmentally-conscious ways of building fine instruments. Dave Maize makes acoustic guitars and basses from other woods that are rainforest-friendly and come from unorthodox places such as driftwood, as well as discarded woods from construction and even trees damaged by forest fires. According to his website, his instruments are being played by guitarists from such bands as U2 and Pearl Jam. I wish I could try out one of his guitars, but unfortunately they are only sold by order or from his shop in Oregon. However, you can listen to samples of his guitars and basses being played.

With all of the countless things we use wood and lumber for, guitars may seem like an insignificant portion of the total amount of trees being cut down every year, but like most things, it adds up over time. Besides, wouldn't you feel foolish singing a song about saving the environment if part of a rainforest had to be demolished to make your guitar?

NOTE: I attempted to find information about the woods used to make DeArmond guitars, but apparently the company is now defunct. Guess mine is a collector's item!

Death metal is more eco-friendly than you think

You might not think that a band with the name Cattle Decapitation would be dedicated to helping animals and the environment, but you'd be surprised. The San Diego metal band plays a ferocious blend of death metal and grindcore, but they also have an earth-friendly message buried beneath the mountains of guitars and gutteral vocals. Many of their albums have an anti-human, pro-animal message (the cover for Humanure depicts a cow excreting...well, just look it up on Google Image Search if you really want to know), and their website has links to the People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the US Humane Society, and Spay USA, which provides info on places to get your pets spayed and neutered.

Most interestingly, though, they are also supporters of something called the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHMET, pronounced "vehement"). According to their website, VHMET calls for humans to voluntarily stop breeding so that the human race will eventually die out on its own, allowing the Earth to recover and flourish. Their motto? "May we live long and die out." Such a view may seem unbelievable and insane at first, but can it really be anymore crazy than a band called Cattle Decapitation that sings about saving animals?

Throw it all away- Recycling and outdoor concerts

Yesterday I attended KFMA radio station's annual Fall Ball festival at Tucson Electric Park. The show was headlined by a reunited (sort of) Smashing Pumpkins, and also featured Cypress Hill, Against Me!, Paramore, Operator, Silverstein, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids. Besides being very excited about seeing the Smashing Pumpkins, I also realized that it would be a good opportunity to scope out what (if any) recycling options there were at a large event like this.

I'm terrible at estimating crowd sizes, but I would guess there was at least 10,000 people in attendance. Since venue rules dictated that each guest could only bring one sealed bottle of water, that means there are are tons of people who will need to buy water, beer, and other beverages throughout the course of the event, which lasted from 1 PM to almost 11 PM. Mercifully, the temperature only got up into the low 90's at the most, so hydration wasn't as big an issue as it could have been, but sweaty mosh-pitters still need something to cool down with after the band finishes playing. It was hard not to notice that the ground was almost completely covered with trash, and you could almost walk across the field without touching the grass.



I managed to grab a spot on the front row for Against Me!'s set (I'm a huge fan, and this was my third time seeing them live), and I immediately noticed that at the foot of the stage was a large mound of trash that had been thrown towards the stage. All the beer bottles sold at the concert were plastic, both to protect the fans from broken bottles and, more importantly, to make them less dangerous projectiles should they be thrown at the stage. All this plastic littering the ground made me wonder if there were any recycling bins around, but after wandering around for a little bit, I couldn't find a single one. Now, I know it's expecting a bit much to think that a crowd of drunken rock fans would think to recycle their beer bottles instead of just throwing them on the ground, but if the option was there, I'm sure some people would take advantage of it. Of course, some people still need those bottles to hurl thoughtlessly at the performers, and there was a constant barrage aimed at the stage. Most took it in stride, though. Tom Gabel, Against Me!'s lead vocalist and guitarist, just grinned and said "Oh please, we've had much worse than this."

It's a sad state of affairs that in this Earth-friendly eco-movement that is going on, we can't even seem to do something as simple as putting recycling bins at a concert that produces tons upon tons of plastic trash. Perhaps Mother Nature had this in mind when she exacted retribution with a 10-minute downpour in the middle of the Smashing Pumpkins' set, which soaked the crowd and the band, and threatened to end the show.


Here's a quick and dirty slide show of some pictures I took at the show. Please excuse the quality, since I only had a disposable camera. Enjoy! Oh, and if you want to hear more about the concert itself, check out my just-for-fun blog, The Liberation Frequency.

Was Live Earth a failure?

On July 7th, former vice president/global warming activist/occasional Futurama guest star Al Gore helped put together a series of concerts around the globe to help raise awareness about climate change. It included artists of varying genres and backgrounds, even some of my own favorite bands, such as AFI, Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, and Metallica.

However, there were many questions as to the validity of the event, and whether it could have a real impact. In an interview with a German magazine, Bob Geldof, who organized the similar Live Aid concerts to help African hunger, blasted Gore and Live Earth, saying that the event lacked clear goals, and that "everyone's known about [global warming] for years." In addition, there was the question of artists using fuel-guzzling private jets to ferry themselves and equipment to the concerts, and concert-goers were said to have left tons of trash at the venues. Intelligent Giving, a non-profit organization that ranks different charities and tracks the use of their funds, investigated Live Earth, criticized the organization's lack of transparency and found that it was almost impossible to actually find out where the money raised by the concerts was going.

There are a lot of things to consider here. First off, Bob Geldof's comments should probably be taken with a grain of salt, since his 2005 Live 8 concerts have faced similar charges of being ineffective in raising funds and awareness. However, the difficulty that Intelligent Giving had in tracking down what happened to the Live Earth money is troubling, and definitely raises questions as to whether this event was really a boost for the environmental movement, or just a boost for the egos of musicians and organizers alike.

For a bit of comic relief, here's a clip of the infamous Spinal Tap being recruited to play Live Earth. Turn it up to 11!



Links:
Intelligent Giving
Reuters UK: "Rock stars tackle cynics as well as climate change"

The end of the plastic CD case?

This Sunday's New York Times Magazine profiled legendary producer Rick Rubin, who has helped launch the careers of bands like the Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and has collaborated with countless other artists such as Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, Metallica, and Slayer. These days, in addition to his producing duties, he is the co-head of Columbia Records. Recently, he urged the company to become the first major record label to go "green" and completely do away with plastic CD cases, or "jewel cases," and they agreed. Since music is increasingly moving towards the digital medium anyways, this could be a big step forward to making the music industry more environmentally friendly.

Let's take a look at the three main types of CD case available today:



The standard jewel case is still fairly prominent on record store shelves, but this is the kind of packaging that Columbia Records has promised to put out to pasture. The whole case is plastic, except for the paper inserts. (Album : 3 Inches of Blood- Fire Up the Blades)



The "digipack" is becoming more popular, and features a plastic CD tray glued to a paper casing. (Album: Quasi- When the Going Gets Dark)



The newest style is the "LP gatefold" design, which is made entirely of paper and is meant to resemble LP sleeves. (Album: Sleater-Kinney- The Woods)

Obviously, the paper "LP gatefold" design is the most eco-friendly of the three, since it contains no plastic and is even more "green" when made of recycled paper. But other than being bad for the environment, jewel cases are just bad packaging. They break easily, they come with those those obnoxious white stickers on the top that are hard to remove, and are thicker and slightly bulkier than the other two. Digipacks and LP-style cases can't be easily replaced if damaged, but they're slimmer and are a lot harder to break. Plus, they look nicer and allow for more creative and interesting ways to package CDs and display more artwork. So, maybe Rick Rubin is on to something here. Not only can we help the planet by ditching plastic CD cases, but we can make life a little less frustrating for music fans too.

You can read the entire Rick Rubin article here. Besides the part about going "green," it's a great read on one of the biggest icons in the music industry.