Rockers vs the planet

I’m not one for mixing business and pleasure, but in my world they’ve crossed paths. A few weeks ago environmentalists launched an assault on U2. They lambasted the band’s latest world tour as extravagant and hypocritical – rather an accurate argument given the cloak of Developing World Ambassador that Bono has donned.

But why’s it taken the green-fingered brigade so long to point at our rock gods? For two decades we’ve been on the back of the world’s multinationals, laying into them at the first sniff of excess – and how they deserved it. But the whole time bands have travelled round the world in private jets and gas-guzzling limos, with entourages to rival Obama, and it's all slipped under the radar. We’ve always forgiven our rock stars because they give us something irreplaceable; something that gives our lives meaning and inspiration. Scolding them would be as unbearable as spanking our children for smiling. Unfortunately, the urgency of climate change has taken over. Our rock stars are no longer forgivable.

U2 say they’ll offset the carbon emissions generated by their tour (ie they’ll give money to others who reduce emissions elsewhere by investing in things like renewable energy). But they don’t tell us how they figure it all out. Are we to simply trust they’ll get it right?

Take, take, take
It’s typical Bono. As the voice of poverty relief, the only philosophy he espoused was giving something back to the countries and the people from whom it had been taken. He never considered that it shouldn’t have been taken from them in the first place. Here he is again, milking the planet and thinking that throwing some money at it will fix everything. It’s not good enough.

Fortunately, there are more astute people to look up to. Radiohead were the first band to acknowledge this issue. Make no mistake, they had to. Thom Yorke threw himself into environmental campaigning and became the voice of Friends of the Earth and if they had have taken off on yet another world tour without contemplating the impact, Bono’s status of music’s biggest villain would have become untenable. So in 2007 Radiohead got some professionals to scrutinise how they tour, and suggest tips on doing it better.

The results may have been simple – hold gigs in central locations so fans can get there on public transport, ship rather than fly equipment around the world, have a stage and lighting rig in each continent, use energy-efficient lighting, among others – but it was the first time anyone had owned up to the responsibility. These changes are now part and parcel of their tours, and everyone is better off because of it.

Unfortunately, a collective movement from the world’s rockers has been about as forthcoming as a Stone Roses reunion. But with the greens now raging at the likes of U2, surely it’s only a matter of time.