Are you doing your part to help Green the Scene?

If you're like me, when you go out to see live local music, you're not really thinking about the ecological impact of the experience. You drink a few beers out of plastic cups. You set those beers on a paperboard coaster. You spill beer down your shirt, then wipe it...

By Eryc Eyl

April 27, 2009

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If you're like me, when you go out to see live local music, you're not really thinking about the ecological impact of the experience. You drink a few beers out of plastic cups. You set those beers on a paperboard coaster. You spill beer down your shirt, then wipe it up with a bleached napkin. And then you watch the band perform, bathed in the light of horribly inefficient bulbs. Last week, I wrote about how Bands for Lands is a launching a "Green the Scene" initiative to help venues improve their relationships with Mother Earth. However, I failed to mention how you can help. Read on, land lovers!

According to Bands for Lands co-founder, Doug Bohm, "within three years, every club in Denver is going to be as close to zero waste as possible." This ambitious goal can't be achieved by Bohm and his organization alone. So what can you do to help? Well, the easiest thing to do is to visit the Bands for Lands Myspace page or bandsforlands.org, and check out the event listings. Attend an event sponsored by Bands for Lands and you can be sure that your beer money is going toward a worthy cause.

If, however, you want to do even more to inject that verdant hue into Denver's music venues, there's even more you can do. Contact Bands for Lands to find out about volunteer opportunities. The organization could use your hep to get the word out to venues and suppliers about building a sustainable local music scene that doesn't send the planet hurtling toward its untimely demise. Maybe you'll get to do something really cool, like work on the group's souped-up box trailer that has been converted into a state-of-the-art mobile entertainment and education platform.

Better yet, if you have a line on sustainable stuff for bars, or are a brilliant nerdy engineer who can figure out how to design and build a kinetic dancefloor that actually generates power, Bohm and his compatriots would love to hear from you.

Get that green ball rolling. Use the hand that isn't holding your beer right now to email [email protected]. When your friends find out, they'll be green with envy.

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