Volunteering with Reverb for Jason Mraz

On August 19, my husband and I headed up to Raleigh with our new friend Alisa to volunteer with Reverb for the Jason Mraz concert.  I was super excited about volunteering because not only am I a fan of Jason's music... but I also dig his environmentality.  One of my favorite things that Mr. Mraz does is not allow bottled water on his tours-- not for himself and not for anyone on the tour.  In fact, the venue is notified in advance to not provide bottled water (in dressing rooms/catering/on stage/etc) because they come prepared with their own reusable (glass) water bottles. AWESOME.

Reverb is a non-profit that was formed to help artists tour more environmentally friendly.  They educate and engage musicians and their fans to take action toward a more sustainable future. Some of the things they do to make tour more sustainable are: B-20 in the tour buses, compostable products when reusables aren't possible, recycling, sourcing local foods while on the road, composting, ride share, Brita FilterForGood hydration stations to fill your own reusable water bottle and more...

As volunteers for Reverb, we spent a couple of hours chatting up concert goers and letting them know about the greening efforts of the tour.  We also helped raise funds for a local tree non-profit-- Trees Across Raleigh-- through the "Tree is a Four Letter Word" campaign.  And, yeah... we had a lot of fun too!

After our volunteer duties were over, we got our seats (thanks Reverb!!) and spent 2 hours listening and  dancing to Jason Mraz.  Here's a bit of the concert I found on YouTube... but like a great work of art... it just isn't the same when you're not there to see it in person..

 Then just as soon as it began it was over... and one by one and group by group... people filed out of the venue with their things in hand.  Well, not everything.  Now, I don't want to take away from the fun we had or how good the concert was... but I have to switch gears here... When I saw this "after" photo of the concert we volunteered for and attended, I knew that it was something that needed to be shared because we can't ever hope to change anything by pretending it didn't happen...

Photo: Jason Mraz Journal

Movie theater mentality is what I say when people leave their trash because they know/think/believe that someone will (or is paid to) clean up after them.  Now maybe that is the case at a movie theater or concert venue... but when I look at that photo... I can't help but think of the beach especially after a holiday weekend.  And let me keep it real...  A good amount of people think that someone is paid to clean up the beach when they leave. (... and that's not usually the case)  Here's what I think: In order to change people leaving their trash on the beach/park/roadside/etc...  the mentality of thinking it's ok to leave our stuff for someone else to clean up... needs to change.  We all need to take responsibility for our own actions/inactions.

Everything we do or don't do impacts the world we live in...

I've thought about this particular instance of "movie theater mentality" quite a bit, because since I volunteered with Reverb, I can't help but think that we as volunteers had a perfect opportunity to talk to concert goers about keeping it clean.  And really, with all of the greening efforts being implemented on this tour (and other "green" tours-- like Jack Johnson-- where I've seen the exact same mess) this is one major-- yet simple-- thing that WE can be directly involved in. So maybe you're not going to see Jason in concert (you should)... that's ok, because being a good steward of the Earth can start anywhere.

No one likes a trashy beach, park, playground, movie theater, concert venue...

If all the world is a playground, then I shall treat all the world as my backyard.