If we are all buying the future with every purchase, I’m doing my best to purchase a future filled with live music. A significant portion of my earnings are directed towards tickets for musical events. The latest being a trip to Denver, (Commerce City) for a Phish 3 day run.
This trip wouldn’t be a good example of well directed purchasing for me. Primarily because of my dependence on air travel to get there and back. I did research rail availability. While I accept working around the extended time requirements of current rail travel, when I realized it would also cost me significantly more each way, it became beyond my ability to afford to “do the right thing.”
Cultural and sporting events can be great examples of sustainable economic activity as the environmental impacts are limited and can be ameliorated. This weekend’s show at Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park wasn’t a good example of a “sustainable” event though. For one, Public Transportation access was very limited and required an extensive walk for the last leg. The venue did have a $15 per car parking fee, (per car to foster car pooling according to the promoters). Many of the venues I’m familiar with have very good Public Transportation access. Madison Square Garden and The Barclay Center are both built on top of transportation hubs, a brilliant act of city planning for efficiency and sustainability.
We are still using way too much non recyclable and indestructible packaging, and this was evident at Dick’s as well. It is great to see that there were a vegan food truck as well as a truck that served only grass fed meat products.
It’s the music we were there to experience and the reason for purchasing our tickets. The venue is a multi-purpose outdoor facility, so I would imagine that it’s ecological impact would be minimal, especially when distributed over it’s lifespan. The production equipment has a material impact, but all of it is used multiple times and is capable of being recycled at end of life. The music is in the moment, produced from the calories and muscle movements of the musicians.