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Impact
Written by Tracee Hutchinson – Chair at Green Music Australia
One of the recurring questions we are asked at Green Music Australia is: What can we do to make a difference? Quickly followed by: How can I use my platform to make lasting change? Increasingly, we are seeing artists demand more of the industry they are part of to be better global citizens and embrace practical solutions to reduce our footprint in whatever form that takes.
For over a decade, Green Music Australia has been working in lockstep with musicians and the music industry to respond to practical needs and lead the way on providing solutions for real change. Over that time we’ve been building an army of allies, drawing on shared experiences and developing collective resources that place each of us at the centre of the choices we make.
These solutions can take very different forms. One of the most impactful campaigns we have ever delivered at GMA happened in the lead up to the 2022 Federal election – when huge numbers of artists joined our Vote for Climate/No Music on A Dead Planet campaign that literally reached hundreds of thousands of music fans through the advocacy of musicians demanding a better deal for the planet from our politicians.
For our industry partners, our Green Action Program helps organisations better understand, monitor and measure their environmental impact while our sector-first database of environmental and social impact is enabling us to measure the carbon footprint of the music industry, for the first time! Understanding our impact is critical to helping us develop solutions to reduce and manage better outcomes.
In truth, music has always been a powerful catalyst for social change, consistently holding a mirror to some of our darkest truths. From the chain-gang blues and dust bowl folk that shaped America’s civil rights movement, to our own reckoning with the systemic dispossession and dislocation of First Peoples told through the lyrics and songlines of musical warriors past, present and emerging.
Acknowledging First Nations’ custodial care for country sits at the core of cultural and environmental best practice is fundamental to our work at Green Music Australia. It’s something we’ve proudly showcased in our Sound Country Green Artist Guide and speaks to the First Nations First philosophy we espouse. Non-Aboriginal artists can – and should – demand diversity and representation on Festival line-ups they’re part of. That’s where it starts, and that’s how things change.
Little-big things like insisting on no single use plastics on riders or any stage they play on – https://www.greenmusic.org.au/byobottle – is another practical way to reduce waste and change mindsets. And, just recently, we’ve launched the super-practical Camping Buddy web-app specifically designed to reduce festival campsite waste. Camping Buddy encourages festival punters to make better collective decisions, no more last-minute buying of cheap camping gear that breaks and is left behind for landfill.
We are living in challenging times and our little blue planet is struggling with some of the harshest impacts of the climate emergency. Simultaneously, our music community has endured some of its most acute challenges in recent years – coupled with the huge emotional and cultural load our First Nations artists carried during the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum campaign. But, as Billy Bragg reminds us: the revolution is just a (No Music on a Dead Planet) t-shirt away. You really can make a difference with every choice you make, and we can be part of the change we want to see.
This article has been written and published thanks to the generous support of Green Industries SA (GISA) as part of the Festival City Adelaide Climate Action Roadmap project, funded by GISA through its Lead-Educate-Assist-Promote (LEAP) grant program.
Written by Tracee Hutchinson – Chair at Green Music Australia
One of the recurring questions we are asked at Green Music Australia is: What can we do to make a difference? Quickly followed by: How can I use my platform to make lasting change? Increasingly, we are seeing artists demand more of the industry they are part of to be better global citizens and embrace practical solutions to reduce our footprint in whatever form that takes.
For over a decade, Green Music Australia has been working in lockstep with musicians and the music industry to respond to practical needs and lead the way on providing solutions for real change. Over that time we’ve been building an army of allies, drawing on shared experiences and developing collective resources that place each of us at the centre of the choices we make.
These solutions can take very different forms. One of the most impactful campaigns we have ever delivered at GMA happened in the lead up to the 2022 Federal election – when huge numbers of artists joined our Vote for Climate/No Music on A Dead Planet campaign that literally reached hundreds of thousands of music fans through the advocacy of musicians demanding a better deal for the planet from our politicians.
For our industry partners, our Green Action Program helps organisations better understand, monitor and measure their environmental impact while our sector-first database of environmental and social impact is enabling us to measure the carbon footprint of the music industry, for the first time! Understanding our impact is critical to helping us develop solutions to reduce and manage better outcomes.
In truth, music has always been a powerful catalyst for social change, consistently holding a mirror to some of our darkest truths. From the chain-gang blues and dust bowl folk that shaped America’s civil rights movement, to our own reckoning with the systemic dispossession and dislocation of First Peoples told through the lyrics and songlines of musical warriors past, present and emerging.
Acknowledging First Nations’ custodial care for country sits at the core of cultural and environmental best practice is fundamental to our work at Green Music Australia. It’s something we’ve proudly showcased in our Sound Country Green Artist Guide and speaks to the First Nations First philosophy we espouse. Non-Aboriginal artists can – and should – demand diversity and representation on Festival line-ups they’re part of. That’s where it starts, and that’s how things change.
Little-big things like insisting on no single use plastics on riders or any stage they play on – https://www.greenmusic.org.au/byobottle – is another practical way to reduce waste and change mindsets. And, just recently, we’ve launched the super-practical Camping Buddy web-app specifically designed to reduce festival campsite waste. Camping Buddy encourages festival punters to make better collective decisions, no more last-minute buying of cheap camping gear that breaks and is left behind for landfill.
We are living in challenging times and our little blue planet is struggling with some of the harshest impacts of the climate emergency. Simultaneously, our music community has endured some of its most acute challenges in recent years – coupled with the huge emotional and cultural load our First Nations artists carried during the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum campaign. But, as Billy Bragg reminds us: the revolution is just a (No Music on a Dead Planet) t-shirt away. You really can make a difference with every choice you make, and we can be part of the change we want to see.
This article has been written and published thanks to the generous support of Green Industries SA (GISA) as part of the Festival City Adelaide Climate Action Roadmap project, funded by GISA through its Lead-Educate-Assist-Promote (LEAP) grant program.
