Warped Eco Initiatives (WEI).

Today I went to the Van's Warped Tour '07. Apart from having a whole lot of fun there I was so excited to see the 40,000 watt Kevin Says Hot Topic solar powered stage! "Sustainable Waves" they called it! Here are two pictures I took. . .





You can see the sign in the picture above.

I have also learned that this year's Warped Tour has done even more for the good of the environment. They use a Biodiesel B20 mixture made for their tour buses, clean catering provided by Tada Catering, recycled paper, soy ink, and a WEI recycling program featuring clean-up volunteers. Tour vendors also used power provided by Biodiesel B20 and B100 (which is 100% biodiesel). I also came across a tent WEI had set up. Under the tent they had a TV connected to headphones so that you could watch An Inconvenient Truth right then and there and a petition to increase recycling in Massachusetts. I signed it of course. :)

FYI:

Biodiesel B20 -- Biodiesel is an alternative fuel that is renewable and puts out 60% less CO2 than petroleum-based fuel. It is usually made from soybean or canola oil but can also be made from animal fat and recycled cooking oil. The only problem with this alternative fuel is it's cost, which is much higher than that of petroleum diesel. So to help lower the cost Biodiesel B20 was created. . . which is a mixture of 20% Biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel. If you already have a diesel engine, then switching to Biodiesel B20 or other mixtures will not require any changes in your engine in order to run.

B100 -- 100% biodiesel!

Soy Ink -- Soy ink is exactly what it sounds like. It's ink made from soybeans, which is an alternative to petroleum-based ink that is much better for the environment and makes paper easier to recycle.

Clean Catering -- Tada Catering has been the catering company at Warped Tour for many years and this year decided that they wanted to reduce their waste. On the road they are using washable dishes! This is part of their new "reuse-and-recycle" program which also intends to turn many recycled items into cash for non-profit organizations.

I was very impressed with the efforts taken by Warped Tour this year! An event that would usually produce TONS of CO2 emissions and all sorts of waste has taken so many efforts to make such a fun day less damaging to the planet!

bye for now! :)

P.S. My boyfriend's band played at the 8/9/2007 Warped Tour and if you're into that kind of music you should give them a listen!
Myspace or PureVolume