A lot of people hear their partner vent about work issues. Environmentalist Lauren Sullivan was one of them. Her husband, Adam Gardner, wasn’t concerned about office politics or water cooler gossip – he actually didn’t have an office at all. Adam’s issues were largely environmental. As guitarist and vocalist of the band Guster, Adam was touring the country and seeing the heavy toll concerts took on the planet. Tour buses idling in parking lots, disposable everything backstage, a sea of trash left after each show, a near total lack of even basic sustainability measures like recycling – environmentally-speaking, concerts were pretty tough on the planet.
And it wasn’t just Adam and the other members of Guster feeling this way. As he toured, Adam heard similar concerns from other like-minded artists like Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, John Mayer, and more. They all recognized the environmental impacts of touring and concerts, but music was their livelihood. What were they going to do, stop touring? Even if they did, it wouldn’t actually make things better; another band would just follow along and create the same issues.
Lauren was sympathetic to Adam’s concerns, but after years of working for different environmental organizations like the Rainforest Action Network and Partnerships for Parks with the NYC Parks Department, she knew being concerned about issues wouldn’t resolve them. If you wanted to actually create positive change, you needed to take action. So in 2004, Lauren and Adam developed an idea for an organization that would focus on making live music more sustainable by addressing the unique environmental footprint of tours and the needs of the music industry. The new organization would be called REVERB.
As plans started to come together, Adam’s sister sent an article about the work Bonnie Raitt’s nonprofit Green Highway was doing to connect with fans at her shows to educate and engage people on environmental issues. Lauren had seen the power artists had to influence change during her time working at other nonprofits and she knew that she wanted the organization she was creating to leverage that power. Not knowing Bonnie, but being inspired by what she had created, Lauren built up the courage to cold-call her manager, Kathy Kane. Fortunately, Kathy answered the call.
Kathy and Bonnie liked what Lauren and Adam were trying to do with their new organization. In fact, they were so supportive they offered to make their own ARIA (Artistic Resources In Action) Foundation the fiscal sponsor of REVERB, offering financial support and mentorship as the nascent nonprofit grew. They also offered up tents, signs, and other supplies for Lauren and Adam to use at shows. With that support, and a leap of faith, REVERB was becoming a reality, but Lauren and Adam still needed to bring their plans to life. Who would be a partner that would be willing to have this new, untested nonprofit join them on tour? It would have to be a band that was similarly concerned about environmental issues and open to trying something brand new. Enter: Barenaked Ladies.
Touring together over the years, Adam had gotten to know the BNL guys well. They shared Adam’s concerns about the environmental footprint of touring and, as their fans know, were always up for trying new things. So when Adam and Lauren approached them about having REVERB join their tour to try out this concept, they agreed! In the spring of 2004, Lauren climbed into Guster’s old Econoline tour van and headed out on the road with BNL, setting up fan action areas at concerts – which REVERB now calls Eco-Villages or Action Villages – and working to find solutions to address the environmental impacts of touring. REVERB was born.
Not only did that first tour serve to get REVERB off and running, it also cemented a partnership that continues today! REVERB and BNL are entering their 20th touring season as partners on the band’s 2023 Last Summer on Earth Tour. Over the years, the band and their fans have taken action on important environmental issues with REVERB including fighting single-use plastic waste, protecting Indigenous leaders in the Amazon Rainforest, and demanding world leaders take action on the climate crisis. The actions have really added up:
- 69,000 Fan actions at shows
- $142,000 Raised to support nonprofits and environmental causes
- 60,000 Single-use plastic water bottles avoided at shows
- 1,600 Volunteers dedicating over 4,000 hours of their time
Since that first tour with Barenaked Ladies, REVERB has grown to become one of the leading music industry sustainability organizations. The nonprofit has greened more than 300 tours and 6,800 concert events, raised $12.9 million to support environmental organizations and causes, neutralized 375,000+ tonnes of CO2e, avoided the use of over 2.5 million single-use plastic water bottles at concerts, supported 4,800 nonprofit organizations and 4,200 family farms, and much more.
In June of 2021, REVERB launched the Music Climate Revolution campaign, uniting the entire music community in the fight against the climate crisis. The campaign has climate-action resources for every member of the music community including fans, artists, industry leaders and more. Music Climate Revolution and its campaign partners have raised over $5 million for climate projects that measurably reduce greenhouse gas pollution, strengthen communities, and address climate injustice. Projects include building methane-destroying biodigesters for subsistence farmers in Mexico, preserving imperiled short-grass prairie land in Colorado, and helping a community outside of Detroit replace repossessed street lamps with locally-built, solar powered, WiFi-enabled street lights.
In March of 2023, another REVERB effort, the Music Decarbonization Project, helped replace diesel-powered generators with solar powered intelligent battery systems to power areas that lacked grid access at Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion Festival. The battery and solar system powered the main stage for the entire day, supporting zero-emission performances by Willie Nelson, Spoon, Margo Price, and more. This effort reduced mobile power emissions by over 90% and proved the ability of zero-emission technology to power large stages for headline performances. The Music Decarbonization Project also helped fund solar powered light towers to replace diesel powered units at Coachella and Stagecoach Festival. The project is entirely funded through industry and artist support including Billie Eilish, The Lumineers, Dead & Company, Odesza, Tame Impala, Wild Rivers and more, with a goal of accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels in favor of clean energy alternatives in the music industry.
You can catch REVERB on tour with Barenaked Ladies this summer on the band’s 2023 Last Summer on Earth Tour. Visit the Eco-Village at any show to take action for people and the planet and enter-to-win a Taylor Guitar signed by the band! You can also find REVERB on tour in 2023 with Dave Matthews Band, Dead & Company, The Lumineers, Paramore, Young The Giant, My Morning Jacket, Odesza, Guster, and more!
