Sound check: Green is the new rock'n'roll

The Wave, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition just before the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, will surround Parliament on Saturday 5 December. The throng will be full of singers, for after the embarrassment of 2007's Live Earth concerts — during which Madonna and Metallica showed their support for the environment between private-jet trips — our entertainers are taking the environment very seriously indeed.

Their latest efforts include Radiohead's Thom Yorke fretting about Britain's proposed new nuclear power stations on a blog post and the late Michael Jackson saying in his concert film This is It: "I love trees. I have this thing for trees." Meanwhile, US punk giants Green Day are using a web video to encourage fans to write to senators demanding a move away from oil to renewable energy. "Having a President who understands the climate crisis doesn't mean we've won. In fact, now is when the real fight begins," drones singer Billie Joe Armstrong.

This is all frightfully upstanding but it perpetuates the myth that the rest of us would never think of doing anything worthy unless an entertainer tells us to — and there are few more irritating experiences than being guilt-tripped by a millionaire.

Fortunately, the music business realises that there are better ways to make a difference to the environment. London-based organisation Julie's Bicycle is proposing unglamorous ways for musicians and backroom staff to do their bit. It issues "Industry Green" certification to music companies that meet specific targets.

Julie's Bicycle shies away from using celebrity mouthpieces. "The pervasive belief that celebrity endorsement' of climate change is the best way of getting the message across is ripe for challenging," says its founder, Alison Tickell.

"It places an extraordinary burden on artists and songwriters, and is fraught with potential for accusations of greenwash'."

Instead, the organisation's focus is on making changes that tangibly affect carbon emissions. For starters, the plastic CD "jewel" case is regarded as a villain to rival Celine Dion. An industry-wide switch to purely cardboard packaging would lower packaging emissions by 95 per cent.

Downloading is widely considered an even better option for the environment, though according to the newest research by Julie's Bicycle, it is not as easy as that. Whereas a CD uses energy only when it is played, thousands of downloads take up space on our hard drives, contributing to emissions even when unused. There's also the issue of how much more frequently we now replace our iPods and other MP3 players.

Our addiction to music festivals remains the most conspicuous way in which we damage the environment, leaving behind fields of litter when we head home. But it's the way in which we arrive and depart that creates the biggest problems.

Don't blame the singer's helicopter — audience travel contributes 43 per cent of the music industry's total emissions.

It has become vital for rock festivals to be seen as green, and most are doing their bit. Bestival and London's Lovebox recently joined the 10:10 campaign to cut 10 per cent of their carbon emissions during next year, and Glastonbury is reportedly on the cusp of doing the same. Car-sharing initiatives and reusable beer cups have become more common. There are now even Greener Festival Awards to acknowledge such efforts.

When it comes to emissions, the music industry is small fry compared to oil companies and supermarkets, yet its influence outweighs its size. No one needs to write a naff charity song to make it count.
www.juliesbicycle.com

How to make rock carbon free
ATTEND GREENER FESTIVALS
Thirteen worldwide music festivals were named "outstanding" by the Greener Festival Awards last month, including Bestival, Isle of Wight, Sunrise and Waveform.
www.agreenerfestival.com
 
BUY CDS IN CARDBOARD PACKAGING
Recent albums such as Only Revolutions by Biffy Clyro, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel by Mariah Carey and Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay all massively cut their packaging emissions by avoiding plastic cases.
 
BUY ALBUMS RECORDED AT THE PREMISES
Studio A at the Hackney recording facility is the first in Europe to be fully solar powered. Acts who have made music there include Klaxons, Florence and the Machine and Bloc Party.
www.premisesstudios.com
 
ATTEND SUSTAINABLE CONCERTS
Musicians such as KT Tunstall, Jack Johnson and Crowded House have organised recent tours in consultation with Sustainable Touring, a company that recommends green solutions to the emission explosion that is a travelling live show. Others going the extra mile include Radiohead, who had separate sets of equipment in Europe and America for their last tour to avoid air freighting 20,000kg of kit.  
www.sustainabletouring.com
 
BUY RHYTHMS DEL MUNDO CLASSICS
The recent compilation album unites Cuban musicians with western stars including Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs and The Killers, with proceeds going to climate-change charity Artists Project Earth. www.rhythmsdelmundo.com

An early listen to:
Corinne Bailey Rae
The Sea (EMI)
The second album by Leeds singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae will get a great deal of attention, both good and bad, when it is released in February. As it was mostly written in the wake of the sudden death last year of her
31-year-old husband, saxophonist Jason Rae, from an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol, there will be plenty of opportunities for those so inclined to trawl the lyrics for the tragically personal — and she doesn't hold back on exposing her feelings.

Yet The Sea ought to be universally praised for demonstrating an extraordinary musical maturing. The lightweight pop of her big-selling debut is almost entirely erased in favour of real soul backed by a live band. Arrangements are complex, melodies reveal themselves slowly, and even her voice has lost its simple clarity to become an almost slurred, pained, deeply beautiful thing. While her personal life was collapsing, Corinne Bailey Rae's music has taken a great leap forward.

New on the net
Just seven months after his last long-player as Eels, Mark "E" Everett is gearing up to soundtrack our post-Christmas depression with another new album, End Times. The first taster, lovely ballad Little Bird, can be picked up for nothing now at www.eelstheband.com.

London dance band Hot Chip aren't being quite so generous. A new track from their fourth album, One Life Stand, due for release in February, is available for free now at www.hotchip.co.uk — but only if you pre-order the album.

Brooklyn trio Animal Collective's album Merriweather Post Pavilion was released almost a year ago now but doesn't seem to have faded in anyone's affections. Capping a great 12 months, they're releasing five new tracks as the Fall Be Kind EP in download stores on Monday, three weeks before physical release.