By Eric Larson

The rock star fantasy is as common as dirt. Who, in youth, did not grip a number two pencil or detachable showerhead in her fist, and who has not more recently ascended the stage at the local karaoke joint imagining scores of adoring fans at his feet?

Some dreamers — now, I’m not saying who — had more elaborate fantasies than others, brainstormed names for the songs, for the albums; mocked up a few t-shirts, planned the tour route, rehearsed the Grammy speech. But few, I’m almost certain, worked an environmentalist’s ethos into the grand plan: “And I’d like to accept this award on behalf of the planet, for always being there for me.”

Though perhaps we should have. Because the fact is, that limelight we so desperately covet is a total energy suck. Those old jewel cases are leeched toxins waiting to happen. Those shirts we designed depend on unsustainably grown cotton. The van we’d drive guzzles gas like a frat boy in the front row chugs Coors Light. Like it or not, the music industry is far from innocent when it comes to the climate crisis. 

Fortunately, the times they are a’ changin’. In recent years musicians, record labels, venues, festivals and variety of key industry players have been figuring out ways to green up their act. In celebration of the rock star in all of us, we’ve compiled this step-by-step guide to launching, and sustaining, your fab eco music career. Now go forth, young dreamer, and rock. 

Step 1: Sharpen Your Ax

First things first, you will need an instrument to accompany your warbling. In rock star parlance, one’s guitar is sometimes dubbed her “ax.” Unfortunately, the term is all too appropriate; guitar-makers and serious strummers insist upon the highest quality wood to produce the highest quality sound, and the highest quality wood just happens to come from old growth trees critical to forest habitat (the clear cutting of which contributes to global warming). To combat clear cutting, Greenpeace has teamed up with some of the top guitar-producing companies — including Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Fender and Yamaha — to stop it. The Music Wood campaign’s mission is to ensure that guitar producers and distributors make their instruments from wood that meets the high standards of the Forest Stewardship Council, an organization whose seal of approval ensures that best practices were used in the cultivating of the wood. While you’re on the market, go even greener by choosing a guitar that incorporates recycled wood or sustainable materials — like the hemp guitar by Mada or First Act's bamboo electric ax (shown above)— or go greenest by buying vintage, and enjoy the added benefit of your rock ancestor’s good karma. 

Step 2: Reduce, Reuse, Record

Assuming you’ve found your muse, scrawled inspired and inspiring lyrics on recycled cocktail napkins, and the elaborate instrumentation on your good wood guitar is complete, the next step is to make some actual music. Long before you decide whether you’re putting your product on CDs or keeping it completely digital, you’ll have to do the dirty work of tracking down a recording studio that matches your philosophy. If you find yourself in London, good thing. The Premises, a studio complex in the East End, which counts Taj Mahal, Nina Simone and Amy Winehouse among its clients, has converted its Studio A to run completely on solar-power. Moving west across the Atlantic, Tree Sound Studios in Norcross, Georgia purchases offsets for the energy used in its recording and relies on LED and compact fluorescents whenever possible. As an added twist, they’ve cultivated an herb and veggie garden so artists can combat musician’s block with a shot of nature. Midwesterners could head to Hinckley, Minnesota and crash the home of Cloud Cult front man Craig Minowa and his Earthology Records, which is housed on a 11-acre organic farm, heated and cooled by a geothermal system and electrified by the wind turbines. Westcoasters will no doubt delight in hanging with Jack Johnson at his greenified Brushfire Records digs in LA.