10.11.2007

Plastikman Goes Green



The one comes from our friends at Big Shot magazine and you can read the original news item here:
http://www.bigshotmag.com/news/?p=447

You don’t have to be a former vice president to know that global warming is a scary thing. At July’s Live Earth events, musicians played concerts all over the world in an effort to spread the message of impending environmental doom if governments and businesses don’t act on a major scale—now. Though everyone from The Police to Kanye West used their performances to spread the message, the dance music community has been eerily quiet about the issue—until now.

Revered Canadian DJ Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman), who helms the Minus and Plus 8 labels in Berlin, has stepped forward as the first electronic music artist to create his own environmental initiative on this worldwide dilemma.

“The aim of this strategy is to one day become a carbon neutral company,” says Hawtin. “I also hope that our efforts will both encourage and inspire other musicians, DJs and entertainment related companies/individuals to find their own ways to limit their impact on global climate change.”

Hawtin’s initiative focuses on two areas: air travel and his label’s manufacturing practices.
“As an international performer, I find there are few realistic alternatives to flying thousands of miles per year travelling between performances and online or ‘virtual’ performances are currently no substitute for a ‘real’ physical public performance. My personal belief is that this has a calculable impact on our environment, and therefore since January 1st of this year, in co-operation with Berlin based Atmosfair, we have been offsetting all of my flight carbon emissions. In addition, these offsets have been recently extended to cover all air travel made by Minus employees…. We are continuing to investigate alternative ways of reducing our combined CO2 output through alternative travel choices such as the use of public transport, cars, trains, bikes and combined artist bus tours such as the Minus Min2MAX 2006 USA Bus Tour. We have also introduced other personal and internal office initiatives such as “green” sustainable electricity suppliers.”

In terms of manufacturing, Hawtin says his labels are paying careful attention to how their CDs and vinyl releases are created. “All new 2007 Minus/Plus 8 vinyl and CD releases have been packaged in either sustainable FSC certified papers and/or a combination of recycled papers. In addition, we have also introduced a new CD packaging design that contains no plastics.
We are also taking steps to introduce these types of papers into other areas of the company, and encouraging many of our worldwide partners & promoters to also be more conscious of the available alternatives.”

“As there is always new research and data in the ever changing area of global climate change, we will continue to evaluate our position and the steps that we can make towards being as environmentally friendly and as neutral as possible.”

Hawtin’s initiative should be applauded, but now the question arises—when other electronic music icons step up to the plate and lead by example? Yeah, we’re talking to you, Paul Oakenfold.

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