Environmental sustainability in pop culture is on the rise, with musicians like Coldplay, Billie Eilish, and Pharrell Williams using their platforms to promote eco-friendly practices.
This summer, I had the opportunity to watch a Coldplay concert as part of their Music of the Spheres World Tour. In addition to performing a breathtaking and invigorating show, Coldplay demonstrated their commitment to creating a better planet through eco-friendly tour initiatives. This made me wonder which other public figures are using their platform to take action on key environmental issues.
In this blog, I’ll explore how famous musicians have made greener choices on tour and used their public platform to promote environmental sustainability.
Coldplay’s Eco-Friendly World Tour
Coldplay is a worldwide famous pop-rock band that has won nearly 450 awards within the music industry, including seven Grammy Awards. You may know some of their number 1 hits, such as “Viva La Vida,” “A Sky Full of Stars,” or “Something Just Like This,” but did you know that they are also strong advocates for environmental sustainability? During their Music of the Spheres World Tour, the band is implementing innovative sustainable practices to create an eco-friendly tour for their fans across the globe.
Although the live music industry is a central part of today’s entertainment, live music shows and festivals can be harmful to the environment through the high carbon footprint and waste produced by both artists and fans. Coldplay was eager to create a tour that was better for the environment. When Coldplay first announced their Music of the Spheres World Tour in 2021, they pledged to make it as “sustainable and low-carbon as possible.”
Reducing CO2 Emissions
Within the first two years of the tour, the band reduced their CO2 emissions by 59 percent compared to their previous tour. For their travel around the world, they use sustainable aviation fuel, a type of liquid fuel produced from recycled waste oil, fats, and green waste that can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 80 percent.
To further reduce their carbon footprint, Coldplay created a climate consciousness app for fans. The app allows fans to calculate the carbon impact of their travel and then provides discounted merchandise for those who use low-carbon transportation options, such as public transportation or carpooling, to and from shows.
Additionally, Coldplay pledged to fund the planting and lifelong protection of one tree for every ticket sold. Since the beginning of the tour, they have funded the planting and protection of over 8 million trees through their partnership with One Tree Planted.
Creating a Greener Stage Production
For their stage production, Coldplay installed groundbreaking green technologies to power their tour. These technologies include kinetic dance floors that harvest kinetic energy and allow fans to “literally help to power the show” through their dancing. They also installed electricity-generating power bicycles that fans can use to help power the show batteries. Coldplay’s reusable LED wristbands are made from entirely compostable, plant-based materials that fans can wear as part of the show.
Check out more of Coldplay’s sustainability practices and initiatives!
Activity for Teachers: Energy-Saving Lesson Plan
Coldplay is implementing innovative sustainability energy technologies during their world tour, encouraging people around the world to make energy-conscious lifestyle choices. Energy Imagery, a lesson from the Counting on People curriculum, teaches students to think about their own energy usage and personal consumption. Students then come up with creative ways for new sources of energy, such as the kinetic dance floors seen at Coldplay’s live shows.
Billie Eilish and Environmental Stewardship
Billie Eilish is a pop and alternative singer with hit records that include, “Ocean Eyes,” “Birds of a Feather,” and “What Was I Made For?,” which have been featured in famous films such as James Bond and Barbie. Not only is Eilish an accomplished musician, but she uses her voice to battle climate change and promote a greener future. During her Happier Than Ever world tour, Eilish utilized eco-efficient practices and encouraged her fans to become environmental stewards.
A Greener Diet on Tour
In 2019, Eilish partnered with REVERB, a non-profit organization with the mission of building a more climate-friendly music industry. There are many ways she leaned into having a sustainable music tour, including what was eaten. Plant-based foods were exclusively provided for artists and crew members, and they ensured venues had plant-based entree options at every show. These efforts led to saving: 8,827,500 gallons of water, 321,000 pounds of grain, 240,750 square feet of forested land, 123+ tonnes of CO2 and 8,025 animals by 2022.
Reducing Single-Use Plastics at Venues
The tour also implemented practices to reduce plastic-waste. Fans were allowed to bring reusable bottles and provided hydration stations at shows for free. This led to 89,000+ single-use plastic bottles avoided by fans. Eleven shows of the tour did not offer plastic water bottles in concession stands, with 9 of those shows having zero single-use plastic bottles of any kind.
Billie Eilish’s Climate Change Activism
Billie Eilish’s climate change activism included her fans, encouraging them to be environmental stewards as well by taking meaningful actions to create a healthier planet. 11,308 tour fans took the Music Climate Revolution Climate Quiz which gave powerful information about saving energy, supporting eco-healthy farming practices, and voting for climate-friendly policies. Fans also raised $116,000 dollars to support climate-advocacy nonprofits and organizations including GivePower’s Kenya solar water farms, The Ocean Foundation’s Blue Resilience Initiative, and ClimateWorks’ carbon dioxide removal technology.
Take a look at more of Billie Eilish’s environmentally-friendly musical tour and practices!
Activity for Teachers: Lesson Plan on Where Our Food Comes From
Billie Eilish providing sustainable food options during her tour reminds us of the importance of conserving Earth’s soil. Earth: The Apple of Our Eye, a PopEd lesson with K-12 versions, models the amount of agricultural land being used on Earth and teaches students about the importance of maintaining healthy soil.
Pharell Williams: Sustainable Fashion & Beauty
Pharrell Williams, a prominent musician, producer, and actor, is well-known for both hit records, such as “Happy,” and collaborations with other world-famous artists, like Ed Sheeran and Alicia Keys. In addition to being a multi-talented figure in pop culture, he is a well-known figure in the fashion and cosmetic industry. He uses his creative talents to advocate for sustainable fashion and eco-friendly cosmetic products.
Clothing from Recycled Materials
In 2010, Williams became a brand ambassador and investor for Bionic. Bionic is a company that engineers textiles and fabrics with plastics recovered from marine and coastal environments, leading to the reduction of plastic waste and pollution in oceans. They identify coastal communities in need of waste management, then install and operate waste management infrastructure and services. These services include creating recycling drop-off points, rallying local community members for trash clean-ups, and teaching local constituents about sustainable waste practices.
With Bionic, Williams created the “Raw for the Oceans” jean clothing line that was estimated to have repurposed 2 million plastic bottles and 1,000 tons of plastic debris from oceans for its creation.
Pharell Williams’s Sustainable Skincare
In 2020, Pharrell Williams founded a skin-care brand called Humanrace. The company challenges current industry standards and aims to implement sustainable practices at every stage of their production process. When sourcing ingredients, the company selects ingredients that have a minimal impact on the environment and are created through sustainable farming practices, such as jojoba oil derived from jojoba plants. Jojoba plants can withstand tough environments and need minimal watering, making them an eco-conscious option for the brand’s products.
When it comes to packaging products, Humanrace aims to decrease the consumption of single-use plastic by utilizing recyclable materials, including Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified recyclable cartons. FSC-certified products promote eco-conscious forestry and support the well-being of forest ecosystems.
Along with implementing their own eco-friendly practices, the company actively donates a proportion of every order towards organizations, such as Greenspark, that have a mission of making positive impacts on the climate.
Activity for Teachers: How Can Production Be More Sustainable?
Pharrell Williams created a fashion and skincare brand that uses sustainable products, highlighting the importance of incorporating products that use natural sources in our everyday lives. Mining for Chocolate, a PopEd lesson for grades 3-8, teaches about the impacts of mining operations that are used to find products that are used daily by humans. As a fun follow-up activity, students are asked to reinvent these everyday items sustainably.
The Power of Musicians Supporting the Environment
With the emergence of social media and the use of technologies in our daily lives, communicating and sharing knowledge has become more prevalent now more than ever. In today’s Information Age, it is important for public figures to utilize their far-reaching platforms to spread awareness on a critically pressing global issue–saving the environment. When popular public figures encourage their audience to care for the planet, it emboldens people to make eco-conscious lifestyle changes and raises awareness about key climate issues. With the limitless range of topics and events that our society is exposed to through the media, it’s refreshing and empowering to learn about the strides public figures are taking to make a positive change in the world.
Image credits: Coldplay concert in Houston (Coldplay by Katie Haugland Bowen is licensed under CC BY 2.0.); Sustainable dance floor (Studio Roosegaarde, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons); Billie Eilish on the Happier Than Ever tour (Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons); Pharell Williams (Pharell Williams in Concert by jacno is licensed under CC BY 2.0); Plastic on beach (Kanapou Bay, Kaho‘olawe, Hawaii by NOAA’s National Ocean Service is licensed under CC BY 2.0)