College Band Goes on 'Carbon Neutral Tour'

At St. Olaf College -- with its eco-friendly notebooks and cafeteria that serves locally grown food -- green is already a way of life. But the Eco Crew, a student-led group that assists the St. Olaf Band, recently took it one step further and created a "carbon neutral tour" with the idea to get the ensemble in tune with the environment, according to the St. Olaf College News.

For the band's California tour, the Eco Crew used a carbon calculator and learned that the total carbon emissions for the tour amounted to 66.6 metric tons of carbon, the article noted. To offset that number, the crew requested donations from band members to go to local agricultural carbon offset initiatives. They also put a recycling bin on the bus, suggested taking shorter showers and changed the snacks from store-bought food wrapped in plastic to home-baked cookies.

In the future, the band plans to work with Northfield-area farmers who practice no-till farming, a process that reduces the release of carbon by leaving corn stalks in the soil. Other future green possibilities include limiting the number of tour programs printed and buying tour T-shirts from a domestic supplier.

For the complete story, visit the St. Olaf College News.

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