article about radiohead contributing to greenhouse gases
Hot air from green rockers Radiohead
John Elliott
THOM YORKE, the latest pop star turned green warrior, has himself been found wanting in his efforts to save the world from global warming. His band Radiohead are significant contributors to greenhouse gases, according to an environmental audit of their recent tour and record production.
Last week the singer fronted a new Friends of the Earth campaign that seeks to make the government legally responsible for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 3% a year.
“Climate change is indisputable and we have to do something dramatic. You have a certain amount of credit you can cash in with your celebrity and I’m cashing the rest of my chips in with this,” Yorke said.
“The music industry is a spectacularly good example of fast-turnover consumer culture. It is actually terrifying. Environmental considerations should be factored in to the way the record companies operate.”
His words were a hostage to fortune. The Sunday Times enlisted the services of the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM) to assess the scale of his band’s pollution.
It found that 50,000 trees would need to be planted and maintained for 100 years in order to offset the amount of CO2 produced by Hail to the Thief, the group’s last album and tour. Trees neutralise the effects of emissions by absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen.
The figures are not unusual for a pop band but they highlight the complexity of seemingly simple arguments on protecting the planet.
Some pop stars, including Coldplay, Pink Floyd, Atomic Kitten and the Levellers, have made efforts to be “carbon neutral” by planting trees to offset the CO2 produced in making records and tours.
The Rolling Stones were the first band to claim to undertake a carbon neutral tour in 2003. Its organisers calculated that one tree should be grown for each 60 concert-goers. As a result, thousands of trees were planted in Skye and Inverness.
In the same year Radiohead released Hail to the Thief, the beginning of a frenetic period. The subsequent world tour took them from Dublin to New York, back across the Atlantic to Sweden, around western Europe and on to Japan before flying again to America and then Germany, and later to Australia. By the end of the tour an estimated 545,000 fans had seen Radiohead play.
According to the ECCM, which has previous expertise in assessing the environmental impact of rock bands, the audiences travelling to the concerts by cars and other means would generate 5,335 tons of CO2.
In addition, the five band members would have flown an estimated 50,000 miles during the tour, which the ECCM says would have produced 54 tons of CO2 emissions.
Industry sources estimated that 1.6m copies of the CD album were produced. The ECCM calculates this would create 2,192 tons of CO2 because of the energy used in producing the raw materials, manufacturing the CDs and distributing them.
This means the band would have produced a total of 7,581 tons of CO2 - which would require 50,000 trees with a life span of 100 years to neutralise the pollution. It is also the equivalent of withdrawing 1,400 cars from the road for a year.
The figure may be conservative. Radiohead’s large entourage of up to 40 people would have caused further pollution as they toured with the band. There would also have been significant emissions from road travel, estimated to be 18,000 miles, but the ECCM was unable to calculate its effects in the time available.
The estimates were based on figures for tour mileage, audience size and CD production gathered by The Sunday Times.
Richard Tipper, a director of the ECCM. said rock bands were bound to have an environmental impact. “They could run trucks on bio-fuels and music can be distributed online. You could use renewable electricity at your gigs, but on the whole one is limited,” he said.
Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, defended Yorke and his band. “Everyone in society is contributing to carbon dioxide emissions, and to pick on anyone saying ‘It’s a problem and therefore I must be a total paragon of virtue’ is not a particularly good way of looking at it,” he said.
Bryce Edge, Radiohead’s manager, said he was unsure if the band had taken measures to limit the environmental impact of their tour. “You either do these tours or you don't,” he said. “I don’t know if the cups or anything are biodegradable, although I’m sure they are.”
John Elliott
THOM YORKE, the latest pop star turned green warrior, has himself been found wanting in his efforts to save the world from global warming. His band Radiohead are significant contributors to greenhouse gases, according to an environmental audit of their recent tour and record production.
Last week the singer fronted a new Friends of the Earth campaign that seeks to make the government legally responsible for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 3% a year.
“Climate change is indisputable and we have to do something dramatic. You have a certain amount of credit you can cash in with your celebrity and I’m cashing the rest of my chips in with this,” Yorke said.
“The music industry is a spectacularly good example of fast-turnover consumer culture. It is actually terrifying. Environmental considerations should be factored in to the way the record companies operate.”
His words were a hostage to fortune. The Sunday Times enlisted the services of the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM) to assess the scale of his band’s pollution.
It found that 50,000 trees would need to be planted and maintained for 100 years in order to offset the amount of CO2 produced by Hail to the Thief, the group’s last album and tour. Trees neutralise the effects of emissions by absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen.
The figures are not unusual for a pop band but they highlight the complexity of seemingly simple arguments on protecting the planet.
Some pop stars, including Coldplay, Pink Floyd, Atomic Kitten and the Levellers, have made efforts to be “carbon neutral” by planting trees to offset the CO2 produced in making records and tours.
The Rolling Stones were the first band to claim to undertake a carbon neutral tour in 2003. Its organisers calculated that one tree should be grown for each 60 concert-goers. As a result, thousands of trees were planted in Skye and Inverness.
In the same year Radiohead released Hail to the Thief, the beginning of a frenetic period. The subsequent world tour took them from Dublin to New York, back across the Atlantic to Sweden, around western Europe and on to Japan before flying again to America and then Germany, and later to Australia. By the end of the tour an estimated 545,000 fans had seen Radiohead play.
According to the ECCM, which has previous expertise in assessing the environmental impact of rock bands, the audiences travelling to the concerts by cars and other means would generate 5,335 tons of CO2.
In addition, the five band members would have flown an estimated 50,000 miles during the tour, which the ECCM says would have produced 54 tons of CO2 emissions.
Industry sources estimated that 1.6m copies of the CD album were produced. The ECCM calculates this would create 2,192 tons of CO2 because of the energy used in producing the raw materials, manufacturing the CDs and distributing them.
This means the band would have produced a total of 7,581 tons of CO2 - which would require 50,000 trees with a life span of 100 years to neutralise the pollution. It is also the equivalent of withdrawing 1,400 cars from the road for a year.
The figure may be conservative. Radiohead’s large entourage of up to 40 people would have caused further pollution as they toured with the band. There would also have been significant emissions from road travel, estimated to be 18,000 miles, but the ECCM was unable to calculate its effects in the time available.
The estimates were based on figures for tour mileage, audience size and CD production gathered by The Sunday Times.
Richard Tipper, a director of the ECCM. said rock bands were bound to have an environmental impact. “They could run trucks on bio-fuels and music can be distributed online. You could use renewable electricity at your gigs, but on the whole one is limited,” he said.
Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth, defended Yorke and his band. “Everyone in society is contributing to carbon dioxide emissions, and to pick on anyone saying ‘It’s a problem and therefore I must be a total paragon of virtue’ is not a particularly good way of looking at it,” he said.
Bryce Edge, Radiohead’s manager, said he was unsure if the band had taken measures to limit the environmental impact of their tour. “You either do these tours or you don't,” he said. “I don’t know if the cups or anything are biodegradable, although I’m sure they are.”