This weekend I volunteered to be one of the “green team” members at Live Earth NYC. I made my way out to Giants Stadium through means of mass transit and hiked around the entire venue to find the volunteer check in point. It was incredibly hot, but I was energized to be a part of what was touted as the largest global concert event and I was more than a little skeptical of the actual “greening”.

Now, I love volunteering for a worthy cause, and I sometimes border on green neurosis, so I really wanted to know what was being done. After all, this was an event planned on 7 continents, and live shows are definitely in need of some all around clean-up.

I went in with an open mind and I really wanted this to be the greenest event possible. I knew going in that the energy use had been offset through Native Energy. I also knew that the website was using solar powered servers and offset credits, so those are good starts.

Walking into the stadium, I was filled with immediate anxiety. There were the same standard buses everywhere! There wasn’t  even one hybrid or alternatively fueled vehicle. Ok, breathe- I told myself. It could be difficult to get biobuses in those numbers, and surely I didn’t see every car on the lot. Smart car was a sponsor of the event and I didn’t see them driving around. I found that odd.
Then I noticed the port o lets around the venue perimeter. Pretty standard (and low down dirty, too- yuck!). OK, walk away quickly, relax- maybe those composting toilets aren’t available in portable versions just yet.

I wasn’t even in the gate yet and already I was thinking like an event planner, there was much more than clearly could have been done.

On the plus side, I will say that EVERY single piece of food and beverage service ware was compostable. Spudware utensils, ecotainer ice cream cups, bagasse sugar cane plastic beer cups- just to name a few. Recycled napkins and toilet tissue were in attendance as well. Would I have liked to see local, organic food options? OH, YES.
There were 3 bins for collecting and sorting waste (compost, bottles/cans & waste), and as a volunteer, it was my job to keep things where they belonged. It was fun meeting other concert-goers through the sorting interaction sending them off with a bit of positive energy to continue this momentum at home. But then I started to wonder: how is this really going to be composted? I asked several people both in the volunteer camp and stadium staff, and no one had a clear answer.

From my personal experience, the event  was a good “show”, but fell short in a number of ways. There were some very powerful voices represented on that stage- Melissa Etheridge, Kanye West, Sting, Roger Waters and they all gave the crowd awe-inspiring performances and things to contemplate. I just hope for the sake of our planet it didn’t all fall on deaf ears.

Namaste.