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There seem to be no limits to Radiohead's cultural impact; all the headlines for the name your own price album, the upcoming New Year's concert on Current TV and Johnny Greenwood getting critical aclaim for his soundtrack to the movie of the moment, PT Anderson's "There Will Be Blood".

In additon, to all this the band has recently undertaken an audit of its touring practices with the objective of reducing the band's carbon footprint.(the audit can be downloaded here)

Here's what they found.

• Fan travel and consumption made up 86% of the Theatre tour and 97% of the Amphitheatre tour.
  
• Of the band’s touring impact – Travel and energy use accounted for 60% (Theatre tour) and ~40% (Amphitheatre tour)
  
• International travel accounted for a further 34 – 40% of impacts.

Short of no-one coming to see us, we’d like to share with our fans some ways of reducing this – our early research suggests that how you come to our shows can significantly reduce the tour’s carbon output. To help achieve better results, we’re trying to play as many shows as possible in city centres because of their better transport links. From the Best Foot Forward report, the rough figures below give you an example of how much of a difference you can make.


It's a good example of the environment playing an important role as a cultural issue. Clearly, the band isn't going to stop touring, but they are looking at ways of reducing their impact. This makes sense if you are Radiohead or even a brand on the grocery shelves. There can be no harm in taking a look at working out your impact, the challenge is once you've measured it, to work out what you are going to do about it.

In 2008, environmental statements from brands are going to come under increasing scrutiny.

Many brands are hoping that consumer fatigue will give them the chance to do nothing, others will take the opposite view and focus on real actions as a way to demonstrate their sense of responsibility.

Measuring your carbon footprint is a good start.


Posted by Ed Cotton