Local green-minded organizations hosted a concert on Sunday to raise awareness about environmental sustainability two days before Earth Day.
UF's Student Leadership Convergence, which is made up of six UF organizations, hosted the 2008 Earth Day Music Festival on the Alachua County Fairgrounds. The event featured 11 bands from Gainesville and Jacksonville, with Chris McCarty as headliner. About 200 people attended the festival and all the bands except the headliner played for free.
"This could be the beginning of something really big - think Woodstock," said Mark van Soestbergen, coordinator of the International Carbon Bank and Exchange, a group that tracks greenhouse gas emissions.
Gators for a Sustainable Campus, one of the groups that co-hosted the event, arranged free bus rides to cut down on emissions, provided environmentally friendly cups made of corn, and said they would donate all proceeds to the Alachua Conservation Trust.
To offset the emissions produced by the concert, group members will be planting a tree and giving away saplings on the Reitz Union North Lawn on Tuesday.
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy had a display table set up to teach music lovers about clean-energy practices.
Fans could take information pamphlets, sign petitions to senators and get advice on how to write effectively to politicians.
"It's all about solutions and taking action," said Abhaya Thiele, the Florida federal coordinator of the organization.
On stage, the bands were open about their commitment to sustainability. Most made reference to loving the Earth.
When a Hummer drove on the field, the members of Oh Fortuna, a Gainesville band, sarcastically began singing "Happy Earth Day, dear Hummer" to the tune of "Happy Birthday."
