DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL: Boston & Chicago

In the hot sun at the all-day Download Festivals, Rock ‘n Renew encouraged the crowd to help the earth stay cool. Thousands of fans attended the festivals to see musical acts Modest Mouse, the Shins, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snoop Dogg, and others. Teaming up with the NRDC, Rock ‘n Renew handed out 700 canvas bags to concert-goers in Boston and Chicago. (Click here to see video of the bag giveaway and the crowd’s response.) Fans were given paints, stencils and markers and personalized their bags with creative, humorous, and beautiful designs. We reminded each fan that plastic bags take 12 million barrels of oil to make annually and that 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away in the US each year. We asked them to use their new canvas bag instead: at the convenience store, the supermarket, the book or music store—anywhere they could avoid putting yet another plastic bag into our already choked system. Rock ‘n Renew founder Jonny Dubowsky also led a Q & A session with Adam Gardner from Guster, continuing our efforts to bring musicans and their fans together to promote environmental change.

Tags: Download Festival, n.r.d.c, Rock 'n Renew, Snoop Dogg, true offsets