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.

Green Police Video

I don't watch TV... so I totally missed this at Superbowl. BUT... I have to say that I would SO make an awesome addition to the Green Police!!! ;)

(Un)Consumption

The other day, I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs: Fake Plastic Fish . If you've never heard of it... lets just say, "Now you know." :) If you've ever wanted to lessen your plastic consumption... and leave a lighter footprint....this is definitely a blog that you should check out!

Last week, she wrote a blog about "Buying Green vs. Being Green." The blog post is long... but she makes many valid points that I completely agree with. **STOP here and read her blog post:)** It's easy to get caught up in purchasing something new because it's touted as being "green" when we either don't really need it because our "non-green" item works just fine or we could and should be purchasing used anyway. OR maybe something we hadn't even thought of: NOT purchasing at all. Think about what she says,

"What we don't buy and consume is probably more important than what we do."

A point that is made in "The Story of Stuff." Overconsumption whether "green" or not... is overconsumption. In order to move past overconsumption, we have to rethink what we buy, why we buy it, and HOW we buy it. Wow... that's a mouthful.

I know the things that I used to buy a lot of and thinking back.... I had to ask myself:

How many pairs of black pants does a girl really need?? How many times am I really going to watch that movie that I just had to buy?? How many toys do my kids really need??

I do this often and I always find that when I rethink (and rethought) things... I don't need 10 different pairs of pants, I don't need to buy movies because I could rent them, and my kids don't need all of the toys that they want (yes, we've even put a limit--it's 1-- on how many gifts family can buy for each of our kids for birthdays and Christmas).

Before we make a purchase we ALWAYS first see if we can buy the item used. Some places that we check are Ebay, Craig's List, consignment shops, and I'd really like to say we go to garage sales... but I just don't move that early in the morning ;) Another one of our favorite resources is Freecycle. Ok... it's not buying... it's better... it's FREE!!) Last year, my husband built a brick patio and walkway with used bricks he gathered from other "Freecyclers":)

Want to go full-fledged into Unconsumption?? Try one of "No Impact Man's" suggestions and don't buy anything new (besides food) for one month. Here's an idea to help "fill the craving to shop."

"Only when we rethink how and what we value — so that we no longer base well-being and quality of life on excess production, consumption, and wasting — will we truly be able to address global warming and other forms of ecological ruin." -- Green Gone Wrong by Heather Rogers (go check it out at your local library ;))